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Outdoor, Street-Car, and
Radio Advertising

JOHN T. HOYLE

ADVERTISING COUNSEL

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

By JOHN T. HOYLE

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING

536B

Published by
INTERNATIONAL TEXTBOOK COMPANY

SCR ANTON, PA.

Outdoor and Street-Car Advertising: Copyright, 1936, by INTERNATIONAL
TEXTBOOK COMPANY.

Radio Broadcast Advertising, Parts 1 and 2: Copyright, 1936, by INTER
NATIONAL TEXTBOOK COMPANY.

Printed in U. S. A.

INTERNATIONAL TEXTBOOK PRESS
Scranton, Pa.

82836

CONTENTS

NOTE. — This book is made up of separate parts, or sections, as indicated
by their titles, and the page numbers of each usually begins with 1. In
this list of contents the titles of the parts are given in the order in which
they appear in the book, and under each title is a full synopsis of the
subjects treated.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

Pages
Outdoor Advertising 1-70

Organizations of the Outdoor Industry 4-10

National Outdoor Advertising Bureau; Commission
arrangement; Canadian solicitorship.

Publicity Considerations 11-13

Poster Advertising 14-17

Varieties of outdoor advertising; Advantages of
poster advertising.

Painted-Display Advertising 18

Details of Outdoor Advertising 19-28

How business is conducted; Basis of poster dis
play; Cost of poster advertising; Methods of
printing posters.

Kinds of Posters 29-30

The Right Form of Outdoor Advertising 31-40

Factors governing form; Attention value.

Painted Bulletins and Walls 41-62

City and suburban bulletins; Ground, and roof
bulletins; Preferred positions; Railroad bulletins.

Illuminated Displays 63

Electric Spectaculars 64r-70

Nature of display; How displays are sold.

Street-Car Advertising 71-90

Sizes and Positions of Car Cards 73—77

Cost of Car Advertising 77-79

Planning the Street-Car Campaign 80-81

Preparation of Cards 82-88

Details of Campaign 81-90

iv CONTENTS

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING

(PART 1) Pages

Development of the Radio 1-41

Foreword 1-2

Physical Structure of Radio 3-4

Allocation of Stations, Frequencies, Power 5-9

Federal Communications Committee; Purpose of
commission.

The Development of Networks 10-16

Evolution of radio; Beginning of radio advertising.

The Radio Audience 17-23

Radio — An Advertising Medium 24-34

Relation of radio to other advertising mediums;
Study of radio as a medium ; Determining sales
results; Radio as a sole medium.

Coverage 35-41

Meaning of coverage; Signal strength measure
ments; Primary and secondary coverage; Station
popularity; Telephone survey.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING

(PART 2) Pages

Putting Radio to Work 1-49

Spot Broadcasting 1-24

Spot broadcasting by merchants; Details of spot

•broadcasting; Methods of advertising a program;

Use of premium offer; Preparation of broadcast.

Chain or Network Broadcasting 25-31

The network broadcast; The split network; Sus
taining programs; Choice of radio talent.

Program Types 32-36

Audiences and programs; Showmanship necessary;
Program type classification; Musical development
furthered.

Scheduling 37-43

Continuity of efforts needed; Determining desirable
time unit; Amateur hours.

Mail Response 44-46

Merchandising the Program 47^8

Conclusion . 48-49

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR
ADVERTISING

Serial 3358 Edition 1

OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

1. Scope of the Subject. — Advertising in the open
air is the oldest form of written publicity. As it exists
today, it is one of the most effective. It has made tre
mendous strides within the last few years; not only in
quantity, but noticeably in the quality of the whole
medium — in its structural betterment and its copy
beauty. Structures are finer; locations are more judi
ciously selected ; standardization has brought progress, and
the general tone has been raised to the point where many
of the best advertisers consider outdoor advertising an
indispensable part of their campaigns.

In Europe, posters occupy a very high place in the
esteem of the public and have always been used by govern
mental departments. The Frenchman or German has a
good time with his posters. They are clever — or bold —
and often naive. He makes them simple and clean, and
one feels that the artist himself has dominated the plan
ning of the outdoor message at all times during its pre
liminary and finished stages. This characteristic gives to
French and German posters a very definite personality.

English outdoor advertising is often beautiful,
especially the posters produced by some of the railways,
showing famous localities along their routes.

Nowhere, however, is the poster medium so well
organized as in the United States and Canada; both
countries have adopted the same standards of business
practice and the same construction, and they use the same

2 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

units of size and showing periods. On the other hand, in
Europe painted displays and spectacular night displays
are less often seen.

2. Outdoor advertising is probably the most
thoroughly standardized of advertising mediums. It
reaches over 17,000 cities, towns, and villages in the
United States and is so organized that it is possible for the
advertiser to reach any one or all of these communities
almost overnight, and be assured that his poster showing
will be scientifically selected, expertly handled, and care
fully checked — also that the price will be uniform.

3. A Huge Industry. — Organized outdoor advertising
represents an invested capital of $125,000,000. It is a
substantial customer of a great many lines of business. It
is the largest retail electric-current consumer. It is the
second largest sheet-steel consumer. It is first in point
of use of electric lamps, sockets, and reflectors. It uses
substantial quantities of heavy lumber as well as the
regular sizes and ornamental trim types. It consumes a
large quantity of structural steel; paint, both the type
used for house painting and for the reproduction of copy;
adhesives; paper and electrical supplies. The shops and
studios contain many tools and a large amount of
machinery necessary in wood, steel, metal, and electrical
work.

The industry is a large user of both passenger auto
mobiles and trucks, and consequently uses a large quantity
of gas, oil, and supplies necessary for their upkeep. Be
cause the work in outdoor advertising is all done on
schedule, it requires the services of an efficient garage.

The annual normal purchases of outdoor advertising
as an industry represent $11,500,000.

4. Billboards. — The word billboard, still in use by the
general public, is no longer used within the outdoor

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 3

advertising industry. Instead of billboards we now have
poster panels and painted bulletins. These terms are more
descriptive of the two principal kinds of outdoor advertis
ing structures now in use.

5. A Changed Viewpoint. — There has probably been
a more noticeable change in the country in the last 32
years than in the previous centuries. Now we have over
21,400,000 passenger automobiles on the road in the
United States, an attendance totaling 49,000,000 people a
week at the movies, and all manner of wonderful inven
tions which have been given to the American people with
which to enjoy life and crowd more variety and activity
into the 24-hour period. Most of the wonderful inventions
that have been given us have divided our time into smaller
units, and have made it more difficult for the advertiser
to break through the rush of the day and register his sales
impressions.

These changed conditions impel a sincere consideration
of the advertising medium which operates without asking
the public to devote much of its own time to the reception
of the message. Hence, outdoor advertising is today one
of the major advertising mediums in this country. It
offers the local or national advertiser a powerful, flexible,
and convenient method of selling his goods or service to
the public at a profit, and it forms a fundamental part of
the annual selling plans of thousands of advertisers, large
and small, in all sections of the country.

In addition, outdoor advertising has special significance
in relation to the development of a distinctively American
poster art, and the medium offers many opportunities
to the ambitious artist or art student. It exerts and will
exert a widespread social and educational influence on
community life.

4 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

ORGANIZATIONS OF THE OUTDOOR INDUSTRY

6. Major Organizations .—There are four major
organizations in the outdoor industry ; namely, the General
Outdoor Advertising Company, Outdoor Advertising
Incorporated, National Outdoor Advertising Bureau
and Traffic Audit Bureau, Inc.

7. General Outdoor Advertising Company. — The

General Outdoor Advertising Company is the organization
of so-called plant owners. All of the sites upon which the
structures of organized outdoor advertising are placed
are either owned or leased by a member of the company.
Ownership, however, is comparatively rare, so that the
greater number of the locations are leased from property
owners. It is estimated that 200,000 landlords receive
rentals from company members. In most instances the
property is idle and, except for these rentals, would bring
in no revenue whatever.

8. Outdoor Advertising Incorporated. — Outdoor
Advertising Incorporated is the selling organization con
tacting agencies and advertisers.

Outdoor Advertising Incorporated is interested in
only one thing — the development of a wider, more intelli
gent, and more profitable use of outdoor advertising by
national advertisers. It offers the counsel and sales
assistance of a thoroughly trained and experienced
organization of representatives who have not only a
specialized knowledge of outdoor advertising but a
thorough understanding of general merchandising and
advertising. These representatives know the applica
tion of the medium to markets, and approach advertising
problems from the marketing point of view. They have,
of course, a complete understanding of the various classi
fications of outdoor advertising and the possible combina
tions that may be used to accomplish the greatest results
in conjunction with other media.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 5

If necessary, an art director or a copy adviser will sit
in conference with client, agency or solicitor, for the pur
pose of discussing outdoor art and copy.

Advertising ideas, written copy, and colored visual
sketches form a regular part of the service, rendered with
out charge to advertising agencies and solicitors.

9. The approach to the advertiser is made in coopera
tion with the agency or solicitor through which the busi
ness is being placed.

Outdoor Advertising Incorporated will not help an
agency or a solicitor to secure an account already active
with another agency or solicitor. The company does not
maintain facilities for the placing of business, will not enter
into contracts with advertisers, but will always have such
contracts executed through the agency or solicitor selected
by the advertiser.

Since Outdoor Advertising Incorporated represents
the industry at large and not the interests of any particular
plant owner or group of plant owners, it does not designate
or recommend facilities to be employed in towns where
more than one outdoor advertising plant is available.

In 1935, Outdoor Advertising Incorporated reaffirmed
its policy of not accepting hard-liquor advertising on
posters. Paint or spectaculars (see Arts. 66 and 83) may
be used where there are no legal or other restrictions. No
restriction is imposed, however, upon beer or wines in
respect to either paint or posting.

10. National Outdoor Advertising Bureau. — The

National Outdoor Advertising Bureau is the agency or
ganization formed and operated by 200 of the larger
advertising agencies in the country and maintained as a
placing bureau. Through this organization, with its wide
spread contacts and facilities, the agency may obtain
accurate information as to outdoor conditions in any part

6 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

of the country and place its contracts in any section or in all
sections accurately and economically. By this coopera
tive method it is possible to secure for the advertiser a
more complete service at a lower cost than would be
possible in any other way. The Bureau has been declared,
by many leaders of the advertising profession, to be the
finest cooperative organization for service now existing
in the entire field of advertising.

11. The purpose of the Bureau as originally conceived
by its organizers and, as constantly maintained, is to
enable any and all agencies doing a general advertising
business to function systematically in the outdoor medium
at a regularly established commission to the agency on
any and all outdoor plants, without the need for special and
individual bargaining with the plant operators where
space is desired. The Bureau is operated primarily to
serve its agency members in their work of buying space
for clients, and is not operated for profit. The Bureau is
run for the equal benefit of all agency members, without
regard to the size of the agency or the volume of outdoor
advertising placed. Particular attention is devoted to
illumination service on night displays, and close watch is
kept on this phase of service to see that illumination is
rendered from dusk till midnight on all displays bearing
illumination.

The field-service work of the Bureau has well been
called the Audit Bureau of Circulation of Outdoor Adver
tising.

12. Commission Arrangement. — The gross commis
sion applying to outdoor advertising is 16f per cent. Of
this gross commission 13 per cent is apportioned by the
Bureau to the agency member for whom the business is
placed. This 13 per cent commission is deductible from
remittances for service. The entire Bureau organization
and its complete operations are maintained on the remain-

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAB ADVERTISING 7

der of 3f per cent. Under this arrangement, the Bureau
makes payment to all plant owners.

13. Canadian Solicitorship. — The Bureau holds the
only franchise for solicitorship in the United States through
which an American agency can place outdoor advertising
contracts with Canadian plant operators.

This franchise has been gained only through cultivation
of the Canadian plant owners over a period of many years.
Bureau representatives are always in attendance at
Canadian conventions and at other meetings in Canada,
and the Bureau holds the good-will of the industry in
Canada to just as great a degree as it is enjoyed in the
United States.

14. Traffic Audit Bureau, Inc. — The Traffic Audit
Bureau, Inc., is a non-profit service organization repre
senting the Association of National Advertisers, Inc., the
American Association of Advertising Agencies, Inc., and
Outdoor Advertising Incorporated. It is the established,
national authority for the authentication of the circulation
values of outdoor advertising, just as the Audit Bureau
of Circulation is the official authority for authenticated
circulation values in newspapers and magazines.

15. Classes of Membership. — The Traffic Audit
Bureau, Inc., has three classes of members:

Corporate Members. — Eight Corporate Members, representing
the three organizations, form the board of directors and exer
cise the entire control of the corporation.

Service Members. — The thirteen hundred service members repre
sent every important advertiser, agency, direct solicitor, and
source of business in the United States.

Plant Members. — The more than one thousand plant members
of the Traffic Audit Bureau represent the actual operators
of poster and painted-display plants throughout the United
States.

The work of the Traffic Audit Bureau, Inc., was con
ducted during the year 1935 at a cost of 35 cents per poster

8 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

panel per year, or at a charge to the plant operator of less
than 3 cents per month per panel. The fee for the audit
of painted display is 70 cents per unit per year.

16. Value of Audit Service. — The advantages of
audited circulation may be summarized briefly. The
Traffic Audit Bureau, Inc., resulted from a demand on the
part of advertisers and agencies for a more accurate and
detailed knowledge of the advertising values of the out
door medium. The experience of plant members whose
properties have been audited justifies the following con
clusions :

(a) Plant audit results in a greater confidence on the part of
advertisers and agencies in space buying.

(6) Plant audit gives the operator a vital basis for selling and
provides sales representatives, both national and local, with
real selling arguments.

(c) Plant audit insures plant investment by providing the
operator with guidance for economical and efficient plant
location and construction.

(d) The work of the Traffic Audit Bureau has brought added
power and dignity to the entire outdoor industry through
the spirit of cooperation generated between buyer and
seller.

STATUS OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

17. Growth of the Industry. — Outdoor advertising is
a national institution. Together with the newspaper,
magazine, and radio, it must be considered as one of the
major media in the planning of an advertising program.
It is not a competitor of the others. A friendly rival would
be a better term. Each major medium has its job to do
— its well-defined place in a properly balanced schedule.

Outdoor advertising is one of the newer media. Thirty
years ago it existed only in spots and was confined largely
to painted barns and fences. Today it covers the United
States and Canada like a blanket and probably is more
nearly standardized than any other

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 9

18. It is significant that during the last two years
when more has been demanded of advertising dollars than
ever before, many new advertisers have been attracted to
the outdoor medium.

There are several logical reasons for this trend:

1. Outdoor advertising has a distinct appeal to the advertiser
because of its size and visibility.

2. It works 24 hours a day, and the constant repetition of the
message insures lasting impression.

3. Its extreme flexibility enables the advertiser to reach any
section or city, or even any part of a city, without waste
coverage.

4. The low cost of circulation on a per thousand basis, and the
positiveness of the coverage, make it attractive from a purely
price viewpoint.

Advertisers have been quick to sense these things and
are more and more inclined to find a place on their program
for the outdoor medium.

19. Classification of the Outdoor Industry. — The

business of outdoor advertising is classified according as
it is used nationally, locally or cooperatively.

The term national business refers to the outdoor
advertising of any product or service which is the subject
of national or sectional distribution.

The term local business refers to the outdoor advertis
ing of any retail merchandising or manufacturing busi
ness, product or service, the distribution of which is
confined within the metropolitan zone or recognized retail
trading area in which the related contract is to be per
formed.

The term cooperative business refers to the outdoor
advertising of any product or service which is the subject
of national or sectional distribution for which outdoor
advertising payment is made in part by the manufacturer,
his distributor, and his retail outlets.

10 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

20. Code of Ethics. — The code of ethics observed by
all members of the various organizations is briefly as
follows :

1. To provide an efficient advertising service outdoors.

2. To give to the advertiser's message coverage of the popula
tion as it moves within and through the retail-trading and
wholesale-distribution areas.

3. To conduct the business of outdoor advertising so that there
will exist at all times an equal opportunity for all advertisers
and their accredited advertising representatives.

4. To recognize the economic and social value of other media
of advertising and to cooperate with them in the general
interest of the advertiser and the public.

5. To serve the public through giving publicity to meritorious
products and services conducive to the general welfare of
the consumer.

6. To give encouragement and support to projects, either com
munity, state or national in scope, which are of benefit to the
public.

7. To place and maintain outdoor-advertising facilities in such a
way that they will be acceptable to reasonable-minded per
sons and to the end that the natural beauties of the rural
landscape and the amenities of historical and public shrines
will be protected and preserved.

21. Standards of Practice. — Members are prohibited
from posting, painting, placing, or affixing advertising
copy of any description on rocks, posts, trees, fences or
barricades. Moreover, members shall not place or main
tain, for advertising purposes, structures which are within
the right-of-way of a highway; or without a lease or con
sent from the property owner or his agent ; or which create
an obstruction of view constituting a hazard to traffic; or
which are not in proper physical condition.

22. Standards of Copy. — Members are prohibited
from displaying copy, either pictorial or otherwise, which
is critical of the laws of the United States or any state, or
which induces a violation of those laws, or which is
offensive to the moral standards of the community at the
time the copy is offered for display, or which is false, mis
leading or deceptive.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 11

PUBLICITY CONSIDERATIONS

23. Repetition Value. — Repetition is a highly impor
tant attribute of advertising. An outdoor advertisement
is always open to view; it is always working; always being
seen; morning, noon, and night, day after day, and week
after week. The outdoor advertisement is always impress
ing its message upon the minds of the people who make
up the market. Full coverage showings of poster or
painted displays give time repetition as well as place
repetition, constantly repeating and reinforcing the im
pressions previously made. These constant and frequent
repetitions of the advertiser's message constitute one of
the chief attributes of outdoor advertising.

24. Circulation Values. — The verification of outdoor
circulation is based on physical problems of ten different from
those of publications. The location of the outdoor structure,
its position, the speed of the reader, the length and angle
of approach are all factors in evaluating circulation.

The operator of an outdoor-advertising plant who has
become a plant member is responsible for the preparation
of a so-called plant-operator statement. In character, this
is similar to the publisher's statement required by the
Audit Bureau of Circulation. Having determined the
effective circulation for each poster-display location in the
plant, the operator proceeds to determine the space-posi
tion value of each individual poster panel in relation to the
effective circulation to which it is exposed.

25. Types of Traffic. — There are three types of traffic
considered.

Class A traffic is a traffic stream composed of practically all
passenger automobiles and a negligible proportion of
truck and street-car or bus traffic.

Class B Traffic is a traffic stream with a general mixture of
passenger automobiles, truck, and street-car or bus traffic.

Class C Traffic is a traffic stream with a relatively high propor
tion of truck and street-car or bus traffic.

12 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

26. Character of Location. — The character of the
location is classified according as it is residential, retail,
or manufacturing.

A residential area is one in which more than 50 per
cent of the frontage on the street is occupied by buildings
used as dwellings. A first-class residential .area is one
within which the average dwelling (not including the lot)
has a current replacement value of over $10,000, or an
area dominated by modern Class A apartments or flats.
A second-class residential area is one within which the
average dwelling has a current replacement value of
between $2,500 and $10,000, or an area dominated by
apartments or flats of second-class construction, or old,
out-of-date apartments of first-class construction. A
third-class residential area is one within which the aver
age dwelling has a current replacement value of less than
$2,500 or an area dominated by tenant buildings or rooming
and boarding houses.

A retail shopping area is one in which more than 50
per cent of the frontage on the street is occupied by
buildings used for retail selling. A first-class retail shop
ping area is one characterized by high-class department
stores, specialty shops, hotels, theaters, and office build
ings. A second-class retail shopping area is one charac
terized by a mixture of medium-sized department stores,
small business establishments, and middle-class restau
rants, theaters, and hotels. A third-class retail shopping
area is one characterized by retail stores catering princi
pally to the laboring class, and by low-priced restaurants
and theaters.

A manufacturing area is one in which more than 50
per cent of the frontage on the street is occupied by
structures or plants used for manufacturing, wholesaling
or industrial purposes. A first-class manufacturing area
is one characterized by light manufacturing or wholesale
business. A second-class manufacturing area is one

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 13

characterized by heavy manufacturing, wharves, docks,
freight terminals or warehouses.

27. The circulation of outdoor advertising is limited
only by the number of those who walk or ride on our
streets and highways. There are over 23,000,000 auto
motive vehicles in use in this country. Golf, tennis, and
other outdoor sports are more popular than ever before.
Tremendous stadiums are being built in the cities. Hun
dreds of thousands attend the big football and baseball
games. The "movies" are steadily gaining in popularity.
Every summer the highways are filled with motor-tourists
on their way to and from vacation-land. The rural popu
lation is moving daily in and out of market centers.

A great change in the habits of our population has
clearly taken place. The entire country is out of doors
and "on the move" as often and as long as possible.

28. Position of Advertisements. — Painted bulletins,
poster panels, and all other outdoor advertisements are
placed to reach effectively the greatest number of persons
passing a given point. Owing to individual conditions
this may necessitate placing the bulletins in any one of
the following positions :

Head on — located at a turn or the end of a thoroughfare, directly
ahead of on-coming traffic.

Semi-head-on — at the side of a thoroughfare at an angle that
will show for a considerable distance to traffic going in one
direction.

Parallel — parallel to the road or street, showing equally to traffic
going in both directions.

It must be remembered that outdoor advertising is
impression giving; it does not reason why or become
argumentative. It must suggest pleasingly by color and
picture. It must present one thought, quickly, domi-
nantly. It is well adapted to accomplish this by its color,
size, and position.

536B— 2

14 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

Fig. 1, which received honorable mention in 1934, is a
form of outdoor advertising of the humorous, impression
istic type that readily catches the eye and registers atten
tion. It was used locally in the Detroit area.

POSTER ADVERTISING

29. Varieties of Outdoor Advertising. — There are
many varieties of outdoor advertising, but as considered
in the advertising business, there are but two general
divisions — poster advertising and painted-display adver
tising.

SPECIAL

AWANCE SHOWING

JAM.6-13

for the] 0934 Chevrolet

CONVENTION HALL

>WAR0 AT

FIG. 1

30. Kinds of Posters. — In poster advertising, the
advertiser's copy is displayed by means of pasting paper
sheets — lithographed, printed or hand-painted — on a steel-
surfaced standard structure, built for the purpose.

The primary form in this division of outdoor advertis
ing is the 24-sheet poster, displayed on the standard poster
panel, 12 feet high and 25 feet long. These posters are
usually lithographed, but they may be printed, and the
hand-painted (or custom-made) poster is a special method
of using the 24-sheet poster to secure certain definite
effects.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 15

The secondary form of poster advertising is the 3-sheet
poster, displayed on a standard 3-sheet poster panel 5 feet
wide and 8 feet high.

In poster advertising, the advertiser buys a set show
ing, or group of poster panels not subject to individual
selection, but so arranged as to give general coverage.

31. Advantages of Poster Advertising. — The chief
advantages of poster advertising may be given as follows :

1. It admits of monthly change of copy.

2. It is uniform in character because the poster is lithographed,
while painted displays are each done by hand.

3. It gives a uniform-sized publicity throughout a city; is well
distributed in all neighborhoods, and guaranteed to be so.

4. It is particularly adapted to short-term advertising to cover a
season. For instance, mince meat may be advertised in
December to cover the heavy demand, or underwear may be
featured for both spring and fall trade. Summer underwear
may be advertised through posters in some sections of the
South and on the Pacific Coast even in January. The United
States and Canada cover such a latitude in temperature and
conditions that most advertisers have continuous markets,
even though their products be seasonable.

5. Color: The lithographed poster offers the widest latitude in
the reproducing of many colors and in the faithful reproduc
tion of products.

6. Its size offers an opportunity to emphasize the essential parts
of an advertiser's message.

32. Twenty-Four Sheet Poster.— Standard 24-sheet
poster panels are located within the built-up sections of
cities at strategic points where traffic is heaviest; along
main avenues and boulevards; on highways entering the
city; along railroads; in shopping and business centers;
and at interurban trolley and bus-line terminals. Where-
ever the tide of traffic flows they tell their story to the
people.

The poster panel is 12 feet high by 25 feet long. The
molding and lattice work are painted green. All panels
throughout the United States are uniform in design and

16 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

4. .

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 17

appearance. At important points of night traffic in
large cities, the panels are illuminated. Change of copy
is provided every 30 days by posting of new paper.

Poster advertising is sold in groups called showings. All
showings in a given town are equal in coverage and
advertising value.

In laying out these showings scientific methods are
applied to find the coverage requirements of the market.
The outdoor organizations, working in conjunction with
the plant operator and city departments, make a survey
of the traffic flow on all the main arteries of travel, ascer
tain the location of shopping centers, amusement centers,
and so forth. These factors form the basis for working
out the location of panels to provide a thorough coverage
of the market — a coverage that reaches all the people
with constant repetition.

An example of the 24-sheet poster is shown in Fig. 2.

33. Three-Sheet Posters. — The modern 3-sheet
poster is the smallest standardized unit of outdoor adver
tising used by poster men. As the name implies, these
posters consist of three units of poster-size measurements.
The 3-sheet poster is 82 inches in height by 41 inches in
width over all when posted. When posted on the stand
ard 3-sheet poster panel, which is 4 feet 10 inches wide by
8 feet 7 inches high, it is surrounded by a white paper mat
or blanking.

Grocery stores, delicatessen and drug stores predomi
nate in the neighborhoods where 3-sheet posters are
found. Various brands of the following products have
been extensively advertised on these posters: ginger ale,
bread, butter, canned milk, soap, flour, chewing gum, coffee,
crackers, syrup.

Three-sheet posters are usually lithographed and the
prices depend largely on the nature of the design.

A typical 3-sheet poster is illustrated in Fig. 3.

18 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

34. Three-sheet posters have a "point of purchase' '
advantage because they are in a position to deliver the
final word about products of every-day use in the home.

They are located at eye level, are familiar and friendly
— a part of the local environment. Three-sheet posters,
also, are sold in groups called showings. Each showing
consists of enough panels to provide a thorough coverage
of the retail and residential sections of the city. They are
not intended to reach the automobile or transient circula-

^^ PLUGS
CLEANED

BY TH E

NEW AC METHOD

FIG. 4

tion; 24-sheet posters or painted displays of large size are
designed for that purpose. Three-sheet posters reach the
permanent residents of local communities in or near the
places where they make their daily purchases.

These posters serve to supplement, extend, and rein
force other forms of advertising.

New posters are placed on the panels every 30 days,
thus providing frequent change of copy.

PAINTED-DISPLAY ADVERTISING

35. In painted-display advertising, the advertiser's
copy is displayed by a system of flashing electric lights or
the copy is painted by hand on the advertising space,
which may be a steel-surfaced standard structure called a

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 19

painted bulletin or a wall especially selected for its adver
tising value. Often the advertising unit takes the form
of a combination of painted steel surfaces and electric
bulbs.

Painted-display advertising embraces the following:
(1) Spectacular electric displays; (2) painted bulletins,
including city bulletins, suburban bulletins, highway bulle
tins, and railroad bulletins; and (3) painted walls, includ
ing city walls, suburban walls, and town walls. In all
forms of painted-display advertising, the advertiser may
buy specific and selected locations. In some cases, how
ever, where coverage is looked for, bulletins and walls
may be arranged and sold in groups or showings.

In Fig. 4 is shown an excellent example of humorous
outdoor advertising. This design recently received honor
able mention.

36. The chief advantages of painted-display advertis
ing are as follows:

1. Painted displays have the value of permanence or the con
stant repetition of an idea for 365 full days. They make an
advertiser a part of the daily life of the neighborhood in
which they stand.

2. They stand all kinds of weather conditions and, according
to the usual contract, are kept bright in color by at least one
repaint and often as many as four repaints a year; copy is
sometimes changed upon additional charge.

3. Painted displays are often isolated from other advertise
ments. Each is built of a size to fit a location and to domi
nate the locality.

4. An advertiser can use as few displays as he chooses; if he
wants to give publicity to one of his distributors at one
certain street location by means of a painted wall, he can do
so. He need not cover the entire city if he is not ready to do
so.

5. Size: Painted displays and walls are the largest advertising
units known.

6. Color: Painted displays make use of a brilliance of colors
which appeals to all classes of people.

20 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

DETAILS OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

37, Plant. — An outdoor advertising plant is the
entire number of poster panels, painted bulletins, painted
walls, wall bulletins, railroad bulletins, suburban bulletins,
spectaculars, and semispectaculars located in a city or
district and owned and operated by an individual or firm.

Some plants consist entirely of painted displays,
others of poster panels only, while all kinds of displays
are combined in other plants.

38. How Business is Conducted. — Each local plant
owner secures local business directly from the local
advertiser, but the solicitation and handling of national
advertising contracts is done through the advertising
agencies as previously described (see Arts. 8 and 9) .

An advertiser who operates in more than a local dis
trict and who is interested in a section of the country
other than his own immediate neighborhood, will seek the
services and advice of an advertising agency. If he is
ready to consider the use of posters, he will discuss his
problem and probably ask for costs and a plan. He then
receives an estimate covering the territory about which he
has inquired. This estimate will show the total number
of posters required, the additional number of renewals
required for replacing posters torn by weather or neces
sary to permit new posting where change of location is
made, and also will give the rate per poster per calendar
month and the total cost of his projected campaign.

The advertising agencies have men who are specialists
in creating ideas and sketches. They develop every phase
of the copy appeal necessary and assist the advertiser in
coordinating his poster campaign with his sales plans and
with other advertising which he may be contemplating, in
addition to advising him in all poster matters.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 21

39. Location and Size of Poster Boards. — Poster
boards are built in locations where the public can obtain
an unobstructed view, mostly on street-level positions
showing to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic, sometimes
on roofs, or set back into lots as yet not built upon. The
tendency is not to crowd too many boards into a given
frontage, and to avoid building so far into side streets as
to lose the vision advantage from a main street. Each
location is developed upon its merits, so as to be of the
greatest value to the advertiser in his appeal to the public.

40. Basis of Poster Display. — A poster plant is
divided into a number of showings of equal value in point
of distribution, and a showing, or equal parts thereof such
as i> i> i> ig the unit of purchase by an advertiser. It
might be said that a full showing compares to a full page
in a magazine, a half showing to a half page, and a quarter
showing to a quarter page. A full showing consists of a
sufficient number of panels to cover a city or town inten
sively and evenly. A half showing consists of half the
number of panels of the full showing. The half showing
is the display generally recommended. A showing is the
unit of sale for every national advertiser; it is as nearly
equable as it is possible to make it, and will really reach
all sections of the city and all classes of the population.
In towns and the smaller cities, a half or a full showing is
the only showing allowable.

41. The time unit of a poster showing is a calendar
month. A complete poster advertising campaign is con
tinuous with a change of posters monthly, but seasonal
campaigns may be used for a series of months or even a
single month. The advertiser is thus enabled to spread
his message for any chosen length of time over the entire
nation or part thereof, or confine it to a selected state,
city or town, consistent with his marketing conditions.
A period of five working days is required to complete

22 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

posting of a poster display, but in every event a full 30-day
showing is furnished the advertiser.

A lithographed poster is guaranteed to stand exposure
for at least 30 days without fading.

The term panel is used to describe a single board upon
which one poster is posted. An ornamental molding,
painted a standard green, composes the frame of the panel.
The over-all size of a standard poster panel is 12 feet in
height by 25 feet in length. The inside dimension of the
actual posting is 23 feet 6 inches in length, including
blanking.

The uniformity of size and construction places all
advertisers on a par in so far as the unit of physical space
in the medium is concerned. Comparative attention
value, strength, and impressiveness come from the poster
itself, which makes it essential that the design embody
the best quality of word and pictorial copy.

42. Poster Sizes. — As already stated, the standard
poster-board size is 12 feet high by 25 feet long. For the
poster itself, lithographers use a unit of space measure
ment known as sheet, which is 28 inches high by 41 inches
wide. The standard poster, familiar in all our cities and
required in accredited outdoor plants, is known as the
24-sheet poster and its size is 19 feet 8 inches long by 8 feet
10 inches high. There are some variations due to require
ments of lithographers' presses.

On elevated railway and subway stations, even on
steam railroad stations, posters of 1-sheet, 2-sheet, 3-sheet,
and 8-sheet sizes are used. But, with the exception of the
standard 3-sheet poster, these are not included in outdoor
advertising as recognized by outdoor-advertising men.
They are rather nearer to street-car or bus advertising
and are sold by companies controlling those privileges.
Recognized poster men confine themselves entirely to but
two sizes of poster; namely, the 24-sheet and the 3-sheet.

OUTDOOK AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 23

43. How Posters Are Measured. — In Fig. 5 is shown
a diagram illustrating poster sizes, the common size being
a 24-sheet poster. All are the same height as four single
sheets, the length merely increasing 39 inches for each
4-sheet unit added. Posters of 8-sheet size or larger are
called stands. Thus, a 24-sheet stand consists of 24
sheets, each 28 inches high by 41 inches long, including
the white lap or margin around each sheet. These
margins do not show when the sheets are matched together.
When posted on the steel facing, a white-paper margin
called blanking is framed around the poster, and gives
it a trim, clean, presentable appearance, much the same
as a picture mounted in a frame with a mat to set off its
colors.

Large posters are not always made up altogether of
single 1-sheet sections. Sometimes a section will be
several times the size of a single sheet. This enables the
advertiser to save in the cost of color work, as only one-
half of the poster may require two colors. In folding, the
sections are arranged conveniently for the bill poster, thus
obviating any confusion in posting the paper on the board.

44. Cost of Poster Advertising. — The way outdoor
advertising is used and its cost depend upon circum
stances surrounding a campaign. Each case is somewhat
different from others. The rates for poster advertising are
usually changed not more than once a year, unless urgent
conditions cause other changes. They are based on a
charge of so much per sheet per calendar month and are
submitted to the advertiser on the 24-sheet basis; thus,
for instance, at 40 cents per sheet, the rate would be $9.60
per 24-sheet panel per month. There is no discount for
quantity. (Exceptional cases allow a week's posting;
for example, for a theatrical company that will be in a
city for a limited engagement. In these cases, a special
rate is charged for the service, which is, of course, higher
than the regulation charge.)

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SJdJ.SO<J

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 25

45. Poster Design. — As to technique, poster design
has, within recent years, become a profession of its own.
It demands a peculiar type of composition and is more
exacting than almost any other class of advertising,
because of the necessity for making an instant impression
and telling a story in the seconds of time that the average
poster is on view.

Many of the outstanding artists in the country are
now employed in producing the posters and painted
bulletins that adorn our boulevards and highways. One
of the strongest influences in the development of outdoor
technique during the last five years has been the National
Exhibition of Poster Art, held each Autumn in Chicago.
By stimulating a widespread and wholesome competition
in poster design and treatment it has placed an emphasis
upon this branch of creative effort that has resulted in a
marked improvement in the displays that line our streets
and highways.

SO MUCH MORE FOR -. SO LITTLE MORE"

FIG. 6

A beautiful specimen of poster design is shown in Fig. 6.
This design received first prize at the Chicago Poster
Exhibit in 1934. Note the small amount of copy on the
poster, and the introduction of the human element.

26 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

46. Special Poster Locations. — In large cities the
owner of a poster plant must pay high rental for special
locations, which, of course, are of increased value to the
advertiser. These are analogous to preferred positions
in newspapers and magazines. Displays in such locations
are, for the most part, illuminated at night. These loca
tions are included in the list furnished the advertiser when
he asks for an estimate for a showing and are a part of the
showing which he receives.

47. Cost of Covering a Territory. — In some 8,000
towns and cities the cost of posting a 24-sheet showing is
less than $200,000 for a calendar month, the cost of the
poster paper itself and the expressage or freight being
additional. This is a real national showing. It is very
seldom any advertisers wish to undertake so gigantic a
campaign — they usually select territories, such as cities of
a certain size, or certain states, or even industrial districts.

For example, an advertiser, desirous of «securing
publicity in a single state, might decide to place displays
in only the cities of 10,000 population and over in that
state, in which case an exact estimate of cost would be
furnished him for posting in those cities for the month or
months selected.

The advertiser can then consider this cost with what
ever other local work he is going to do, which may include
newspaper advertising or street-car or bus advertising;
and he can determine precisely what his campaign will
cost; how many dealers he will reach; how many people
he will affect, and thus have a thoroughly complete drive
mapped out and ready to carry into effect. In other
words, all the data are furnished him upon which he may
definitely plan out a campaign in advance.

48. The cost per thousand is the common denominator
in determining the economy of advertising. Circulation,
or the number of people who can see the advertisement in

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 27

a medium, is the accepted basis for computing its cost.
In outdoor advertising the circulation is so great that the
cost per thousand is unusually low. Cost figures, how
ever, are subject to frequent change, so that it is difficult
to furnish estimates for named cities or states that will
remain constant. A fair estimate of the cost of poster
showings, in cities of typical populations, is shown in
Table I. The figures refer only to space and service
rendered by the plant owner.

TABLE I— COST OF POSTER SHOWINGS

Population of
City, in

Number of Posters

Number

Space

Cost per
Thousand

Round

Cost

Circulation

Numbers

Regular

Special

Renewals

1 Month

per Day

25,000

$ 71.80

$0.09

120,100

233.60

0.06

214,100

436.00

0.06

395,200

735.80

0.06

538,000

1,229 60

0.07

936,500

1,362.00

0.05

2,035,900

1,837.20

0.03

49. Poster Service. — When an order is received from
the advertiser, the poster-plant owner agrees to post, for
the month or months required, on the boards of the
designated city or town, the size showing contracted for,
to replace without extra charge during this time any paper
damaged by weather or other cause, and to furnish, upon
completion of the posting of the posters, a list of the loca
tions on which the paper was posted. Renewal paper
averages about 20 per cent; therefore, if 50 posters will
make a showing, 10 additional must be included.

When an advertisement appears in a periodical or news
paper, a copy mailed to the advertiser proves its actual
appearance. So when a poster campaign is on the boards,
the advertiser receives a list of the exact locations upon
which his poster advertisement is posted.

28 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

50. Cooperative Posting. — Some manufacturers have
adopted a selling plan which demands that a portion of
the local advertising investment be paid by the dealer.
This is called cooperative poster advertising. The coopera
tive plan calls for the display of the dealer's name on the
posters. Imprint or overlay strips should not be used for
this purpose, as they come off very easily. Plant owners
do not guarantee that such surface strips will stay up
for the 30-day period. The imprint bearing the dealer's
name should be lithographed or printed on the poster
itself in a space provided for it. If this is properly done,
the dealer's name appears as part of the poster design.

51. Methods of Printing Posters. — There are a num
ber of ways of printing posters, but only the important
processes will be here mentioned :

Lithography: The lithographic process of printing from
stone permits the use of from three colors up to eight and
sometimes more, giving splendid reproductions of the
original sketches in a soft tone.

Aluminum plates: A more modern adaptation of the principle
of stone lithography. It is economical and satisfactory.

Zinc plates: Also a modern development in lithography which
has working advantages over stone and which turns out
very faithful color reproductions.

Wood-block process: An early form of printing large posters,
usually used for lettering and decoration with some pictorial
copy. It is really not suitable for high-grade work of
lithography, because of its limitations.

Some form of lithographed poster is the most commonly
used. The cost depends upon the quantity, upon the
number of sheets, and the number of colors used. The
quality of ink and paper makes a difference in poster cost.
The best colors do not fade in a month's showing, and the
best paper does not tear away easily. The trade tendency
is toward more artistic designing, use being made of the
work of well-known artists, and better coloring.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 29

An excellent example of this high-class work is shown
in Fig. 7. It will be noted that the humorous slant is
quite in evidence, yet the message sought to be conveyed
is unmistakable and will appeal to all who travel the rail
road by night.

KINDS OF POSTERS

52. Stock Posters. — In addition to the lithographed
posters made from special designs for advertisers, many
lithographers deal in stock posters that can be bought in
any quantity. The stock part of the poster is printed
in large quantities with a space left in which the advertiser

IN AIR CONDITIONED COMFORT

EORGE WASHINGTON • THE S

THE F.F.V.

CHESAPEAKE and OHIO

TO WHS HI NO TOM AMD NIW YORK

FIG. 7

may have his name, address, or other matter inserted.
For example, a stock design showing several women in
street dress may be used for a department store or for a
woman's specialty shop. Stock posters are used only by
local advertisers. They lack the individuality required by
larger advertisers, but are just the thing for those who
cannot afford to have large quantities of colored posters
printed. Stock posters are largely used by banks,
clothiers, dairies, florists, furniture dealers, jewelers, etc.
Contracts are usually placed on a 12 months basis, with
a change of copy each month. The retailer is, of course,
given the exclusive right to use a certain series of designs

536B— 3

30 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

in his community, so that local advertisers can avail
themselves of the pulling power of poster advertising.

53. Hand-Painted or Manugraph Posters. — There
are times when a local advertiser can use only a few loca
tions, in which event the plant owner can have posters
painted by hand made for him. In making the manu-
graph, the original is done by hand, on a screen, by an
artist. Duplicate posters are placed over the original
and, by strong light, an artist of less experience traces and
fills in the second, third, and so on. This reduces the
cost. Space is left for the dealer's name. Some of the
uses of this form of advertising are to capitalize some news
announcement, and to meet conditions in local territory.

PREPARATION OF POSTER ADVERTISING

54. The Investigation. — The first step in copy prep
aration is the investigation. This usually covers every
phase of marketing the product. It may be necessary to
conduct a dealer survey to discover the attitude of the
retailer and the standing of competitive articles. A
consumer investigation may also be desirable. The
questionnaire method is the usual procedure, and the
survey is made by trained men and women who can be
depended on to render an accurate report. Valuable
information may be gained from a visit to the advertiser's
factory to observe each step in the manufacture of the
commodity. The investigation should be thorough, and
the facts, when gathered, should be as accurate as possible.

There has been within the last two years a great deal
of intensive study as to traffic flow and visibility, and
accurate figures and charts have been compiled that show
at a glance the intensity of traffic flow and the character
of traffic from a buying standpoint in all major centers.
This makes it possible to select locations in any part of
the country with a very definite idea as to their value
from a circulation standpoint.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 31

THE RIGHT FORM OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

55. Factors Governing Form. — Having completed the
market investigation the advertising man is ready to
determine the form of outdoor advertising to recommend
and the term of the campaign to be covered by contract.

The following outlines will be helpful in coming to a
decision :

Poster advertising should be recommended when
general coverage, general distribution, and repetition are
the main factors for consideration, such as:

1. The product is sold by a large number of thoroughly distrib
uted retail outlets.

2. The product is consumed in a short period of time and
requires frequent replacement.

3. The product has a small unit cost.

4. When the product is of large unit cost using exclusive or
few dealers, and is of wide public interest.

The term of the poster campaign should be governed
by the following considerations :

1. If the product is consumed frequently and at a constant rate
throughout the year, then the campaign should be on a 12-
month basis and the objective to be accomplished should be
divided into twelve copy messages containing a major factor
of continuity in basic sales appeal and copy theme, and also
a major factor of variety or change in color and illustration to
maintain attention value.

2. If the product is seasonable, then the term of campaign
should be equal to and be continuous during the months
of the season or seasons in which the article is consumed,
and the objectives should be reached by dividing the copy
into as many strong selling statements as there are months
involved. Continuity in this case can be secured through
use of color and illustration. If the number of months
involved in the season or seasons is more than three, do
not sacrifice continuity.

3. If the season is not more than 3 months, then the copy may
be made single in attention and impression value for each
month and continuity may be somewhat sacrificed.

32 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

Painted display advertising should be recommended
when specific coverage, restricted distribution, and domi
nant impression are the main factors, such as:

1. The product is sold through an exclusive dealer or a small
number of appointed dealers and is of substantial unit cost,
its purchase and replacement occurring infrequently. Pre
ferred position painted display located in dominant positions
in heavy traffic zones of strategic value should be used.

2. If the product is sold in a limited section of the market (one
or more neighborhoods), then either store bulletins or neigh
borhood walls, or a combination of both, should be recom
mended.

3. If prestige, stability, or institutional factors control con
sideration, then boulevard and highway or central business
district bulletins in combination should be recommended.

The term of the painted-display campaign should be
governed by the following considerations :

1. Painted display as a primary medium should not be used for
a term less than one year.

2. It is most effective when divided into three or four paints
per year.

3. Repaints with same copy should be discouraged. Change
of copy improves the effectiveness of painted display.

4. The dates on which change of copy should occur should
follow as nearly as possible any special or seasonal appeal
that may be made in behalf of the product as determined by
the investigation and the basic sales appeal decided upon.
In other words, change of copy dates should not be made
arbitrarily every 3 months or every 4 months. Instead, the
copy should fit the merchandising and advertising problem
of the advertiser.

Poster advertising and painted display in combination
should be recommended when:

1. The product is sold through an exclusive dealer or a small
number of appointed dealers and is a product consumed
during a short period of time requiring frequent replacement,
and is of general public interest. Preferred position painted
display should be used in this type of case to reinforce the
general coverage of poster advertising, and in addition high
way painted display within the radius of the market or trad
ing area may properly be recommended.

2. When a combination of any of the primary reasons for using
each form exists.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 33

The term of the campaign for poster and painted dis
play in combination should be governed by the following
considerations :

1. It should be a 12-month campaign.

2. The painted display should be used not only to reinforce the
general coverage of poster display at strategic points, but it
should emphasize any seasonal or special points of public
interest in the product during such periods, as such emphasis
would logically increase sales. This would normally require
at least three and probably four changes of copy. Changes
of copy on the painted display should not necessarily be on an
every 3 or 4 months' basis if sales conditions dictate shorter
or longer periods of time between changes of copy.

56. The Essentials. — An outdoor advertisement
should have simplicity, attention value, brevity in text,
pleasing and harmonious colors, and good composition.

57. Simplicity. — Outdoor advertising should be
simple and easy to understand. If the message is com
plex or involved, mental effort is required, and the method
becomes argumentative rather than suggestive. A good
example of simplicity is a design which contains the fol
lowing elements: (1) the picture; (2) a brief text to
reinforce the picture; (3) the name of the product; (4) the
package; and (5) the selling phrase. The picture and the
few words which accompany it might really be called one
element, since both should reach the eye and the mind at
the same time. More than five elements are dangerous;
in fact, generally speaking, the fewer the number of
elements the more striking will be the design. It is a
good idea for the advertiser and the art director to scrutin
ize a finished sketch for the sole purpose of trying to elimi
nate one or more elements.

58. Attention Value. — To be seen, an outdoor adver
tisement must attract attention. This may be secured
by an idea or a design that is different without being
freakish. If the advertisement is too bizarre, too "clever,"

34 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 35

or too far from the point, it inevitably distracts the mind
and defeats its own purpose. A study of current outdoor
designs reveals that advertisers are using many devices
to attract attention. In poster advertising, some adver
tisers adopt the white background for their posters. This
automatically enlarges the effect of the 24-sheet poster.
A good example of attention value of this character is
illustrated in Fig. 8, which was awarded honorable men
tion at the Chicago Poster Exhibit.

59. Brevity in Copy. — The advertiser must make up
his mind that the better and stronger he can make his
copy by a choice of few words, the stronger will be the
poster. A newspaper or a book is read at a distance of
a few inches. A poster is seen at a distance of 20 to 200
feet, or even farther. Most people who see it are not
sitting quietly; they are walking or riding as they read.
So the copy must be concise enough to present, pleasingly,
to the reader a full message in one brief glance.

Posters are often faulty in just this point: the adver
tiser is so anxious to explain by word that he complicates
his whole story. There is no copy, as the magazine or
newspaper copy writer understands it, on the poster.
Outdoor advertising talks in headlines, and the headlines
have to be good. The time allotted for the reading of a
poster is seldom more than 5 seconds and is more likely
to be in the neighborhood of 2 seconds. Obviously, there
can be no long expositions or hard-to-understand phrases.
In addition to this, the copy is always read from left to
right. When traffic is passing the poster from right to
left, the copy is hard to read — another strong reason for
brevity.

60. Color. — Color in advertising will perform the
following functions: Attract attention; lend emphasis;
lend realism; add novelty; give the impression of strength,
coolness, warmth, purity, dignity, or style. Combining

36 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

colors is a science in itself. Certain colors are warm,
others are cold ; certain colors appeal strongly to men, and
others to women. Colors, of course, must always be pleas
ing and suited to the product. If a food product is adver
tised, obviously, the general effect of the entire color
scheme must be clean, wholesome, and appetizing. What
ever colors are used, they should be in keeping with the
exact suggestion or impression which the outdoor adver
tisement is intended to convey.

In choosing colors, it must be remembered that com
binations having the greatest legibility are not always the
most pleasing; for instance, black letters on yellow have
the greatest legibility, but the combination is not so
pleasing as the yellow and blue combination.

Numerous tests show that blue is a favorite color with
men, and red with women. In choosing a color for adver
tising a refrigerator, while red would be the natural color
to appeal to women, yet in this case it would have the
wrong association. The ideal dominant color to use would
be a cold color such as blue. It has the proper associa
tion, even though it ranks second with women.

Colors may look quite different under artificial illumina
tion than when viewed in daylight. Under such con
ditions, dark blues and purples may appear nearly black,
and red and yellow may appear more yellow. It is well to
remember that in illuminated advertisements, large light-
colored areas should be used, and that the letters and
background should be so related as to give greatest
legibility.

61. The poster setting varies with its location, de
pending on sectional differences in climate, in opinion and
in color.

In winter, the predominant tone is dull and cold and
grey, so warm, brilliant hues provide the most effective
contrast. In summer, the situation is reversed. Yellows

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 37

and yellow greens make up the background, and cool colors
will attract more attention.

Sectional considerations are an additional problem in
this connection. On the Pacific Coast, for example, the
colors of posters which have adequate brilliance and carry
ing power in other parts of the country are dulled and made
ineffective because of the more highly keyed background
hues of the landscape.

The tendency of nature is to reduce all colors to one
monotone — therefore, strongly complementary colors fur
nish the most powerful contrast with nature, with a result
ing gain in attention value.

The green molding and lattice of the standard struc
tures must be taken into consideration when painting the
poster. If allowance is not made for this color frame, a
design that is successful when considered alone may become
a disastrous failure when placed upon the standard struc
ture.

The poster artist, having to blend his coloring into the
surrounding colors of nature, cannot use color with the
freedom and subtlety of the magazine artist. No color
rule can be formulated for the use of the poster artist,
but it can be said that, unless analogous colors are used
remarkably well, they will not produce as good a poster
as will the use of complementaries.

62. Composition. — Composition in poster design
means securing a well-reasoned and striking relationship
of the three primary elements of a poster — picture, lettering,
and open space. Composition is the real basis in produc
ing striking designs.

There are two kinds of poster composition, variously
known as balanced and unbalanced, formal and informal,
symmetrical and unsymmetrical. The most striking
composition for a poster is the unbalanced form. While
formal or balanced compositions convey a sense of dignity

38 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

and repose, the sense which a poster must convey in order
to be most effective is one of surprise and action.

When a designer speaks of an unbalanced composition
he means one in which the balance is not immediately
apparent. He knows that there must be balance, though
subtly concealed in an apparently informal arrangement
of parts.

63. Incorporating a Selling Point. — Because the
wording must be concise, it does not follow that the copy
may not bring out a selling point. Perhaps there are too
many posters simply announcing a name without a sugges
tion of the desirable qualities in the product. But a well-
expressed phrase may bring out a strong selling point in
an article.

Using more than one selling point in a single poster is
not good poster advertising. It is best to bring out the
one selling point in one design and another in a different
design, thus forming a varied poster campaign.

64. Copy Suggestions. — In creating good headlines
or text in the preparation of poster copy, the following
words, classified by basic appeals, may be found sugges
tive. The list may be greatly enlarged as additional and
appropriate words come to one's attention.

Appetite Appeal. — Aroma, bouquet, dainty, delicate, delicious,
juicy, luscious, rich, savory, smack, spice, tidbit, toothsome,
zest.

Beauty and Appearance Appeal. — Aristocratic, artistic, attrac
tive, beautiful, blooming, brilliant, comeliness, courtly,
culture, dazzling, distinguished, elegant, exquisite, gorgeous,
graceful, loveliness, modish, pictorial, radiance, ruddy,
smart, splendor, sublime, thoroughbred, trim.

Comfort Appeal. — Allure, cordial, cushion, enjoyment, flowery,
gladden, invigorate, lullaby, luxurious, refreshment, satis
faction, serenity, sunny, velvet, welcome.

Convenience Appeal. — Advantage, aid, assistance, ease, leisure,
opportunity, repose, resource, rest.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 39

Economy Appeal. — Care, discipline, frugality, harmony, regu
larity, routine, savings, system, thrift.

Educational Appeal — Academic, collegiate, cultural, edification,
encyclopedia, guidance, industrious, intellect, knowledge,
liberal, literature, military, nurture, philosophy, prepara
tion, qualification, scholarly, scientific, studious, technical,
tuition, vocational.

Entertainment Appeal. — Amusement, association, comradeship,
conviviality, courtesy, festive, heartiness, joviality, pleasure,
pastime, society, welcome.

Health Appeal. — Brave, chipper, fettle, flourish, fresh, hale,
hearty, pep, poise, robust, sanitary, vigorous, weatherproof.

Pride of Ownership Appeal. — Adorn, appreciation, decorate,
delicacy, enrich, estate, interest, landowner, occupant,
proprietor, refinement, resources, wealth.

Profit Appeal. — Accrue, beneficial, earnings, enhance, flourish,
fortune, growth, improvement, income, invaluable, property,
prosper, remuneration, resources, revenue, reward, service,
thrive, win, worth, yield.

Protection Appeal. — Assurance, bodyguard, buffer, bulwark,
confidence, custodian, gain, guarantee, guardianship,
invulnerable, master, patronage, preservation, safeguard,
security, stronghold, vigilant, warranty.

Sentiment Appeal. — Anticipate, ardent, assure, belief, calm,
character, cherish, deep-rooted, eagerness, enthusiasm,
fervor, foster, fullness, heartiness, indelible, opinion,
principle, promise, response, sanguine, secret, sincere, soul,
spirit, staunch, steadfast, sympathy, touching, trustful,
warmth, zealous.

65. A Typical Poster Campaign. — The advertiser
introducing a new article or entering a territory new to
his goods, must decide whether he will post in advance
of his salesmen or after distribution has been obtained
among dealers by the salesmen. If the advertiser is not
well known in that territory, it will be a big sales asset
for the posters to appear in the month in which the mis
sionary salesman solicits orders, so that the dealer will
have this visual evidence of advertising, and not a mere
promise. If the advertiser and product are known to the
merchant, and the product has distribution, then the
salesman can either precede the posting or work along

40 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

at the same time. It is a great stimulation to the sales
man to see his product advertised right in the vicinity
of the dealers on whom he is to call.

Let us picture a campaign of posting by a well-estab
lished advertiser, but new to the territory. He is selling
a beverage that is sold at soda fountains, and also in bottles
for the home — a ginger ale for instance. How will he
proceed?

First his salesmen must be thoroughly schooled in
the campaign. They must be equipped with the proper
dealer aids, such as store signs, window trims, etc., carry
a portfolio which will show the posters, preferably in color,
and reproductions of other advertising to be done; in this
way they will be able to explain the whole advertising plan
to the dealer.

It is fine practice for salesmen to place upon store
windows small color reproductions of the poster, as this
makes a tie-up between the large poster advertising and the
retail point of sale. Then, when the posters appear, the full
effect of demand for the ginger ale comes from the public,
and the dealer, seeing his new stock begin to move, recalls
that the salesman's promises have been fulfilled.

All soft drinks are presumed to have a season of heavi
est sale in the summer months, and this heated period is
the proper time for the poster campaign to appear. This
does not mean, however, that soft-drink advertising is
limited to a short season; for the United States is so large
that the advertiser has a year-round season somewhere
in the states. In New England, in January the snow on
the ground does not whet appetites for soft drinks ; but in
January thousands of people in Florida, along the southern
Gulf states, and in parts of California are thirsty because
of the heat. The four seasons in America vary as to their
arrival in the different states, and a soft-drink manufac
turer can take advantage of these weather conditions to

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 41

keep his plant busy in months he may have considered
dull. It is a recent accomplishment of advertising to
break up seasonable demand and make a more even sale
throughout the year, and great strides have been made by
soft-drink manufacturers in this respect.

PAINTED BULLETINS AND WALLS

66. Painted Bulletins. — The name painted bulletin is
applied to an individual structure built of steel and wood,
on the surface of which the advertisement is painted or
occasionally affixed in some unusual manner. Bulletins
may be located on the surface of the ground, or on the
roofs or walls of buildings. They are placed upon care
fully chosen locations within a city, along suburban arteries,
on commercial highways, or along interurban, electric or
railway lines. Where night circulation warrants, they
are effectively illuminated. While posters are used for
general market coverage, painted displays are commonly
used for selective coverage. They are probably the most
flexible of all forms of advertising. Each unit is selected
by the advertiser to serve his specific needs; and displays
may be used as single units or in numbers sufficient to
cover a city or other market area.

There are two general types — bulletins and walls.
The advertisement is painted by hand directly on the
sheet-metal surface of the bulletin or upon the wall of a
building. Painted displays may be used on the basis of
a single unit, in groups to provide coverage of the market,
or in any number desired to serve the specific needs of the
advertiser.

Market coverages are not standardized to the same
extent as in poster advertising.

67. City and Suburban Bulletins. — The number of
types of city and suburban bulletins has been reduced so
that now there are four general types of structure: ground

42 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

bulletin, roof bulletin, store bulletin, and wall bulletin.
Standard structures have been adopted for these four
types. In all cases the painting surface is made of smooth
galvanized sheet iron, with a standardized frame or mold
ing. On all city and suburban bulletins, the molding and
lattice are painted white.

The city and suburban bulletin is one of the most
beautiful and dignified types of outdoor advertising . This
type of bulletin is used to a large extent to reach the high-
class automobile circulation on city boulevards and main
suburban highways. It is 12J feet high by 47 feet long,
allowing a painting surface of 10 feet 6 inches high by 44
feet long. It has a decorative molding and is set on a
base of diagonal lattice work. Where night traffic is
heavy, it is illuminated.

The 1930 census figures show that a gradual shifting
of the city population to surburban residential towns is
now in progress. This development increases the circula
tion between the city proper and the surrounding area
and, of course, also increases the value of city and sub
urban bulletins along the main arteries of travel.

Another recent development which has greatly
enhanced the value of this type of display is the tre
mendous increase in the number of automobiles in the
United States during recent years — from 9,200,000
registered in 1920 to over 24,700,000 all types, registered
in 1934. Today people are constantly on the go. And
the greater the number of people who are out motoring,
the greater is the number who see outdoor advertising;
while the more time they spend outdoors, the more often
they see these large colorful displays.

City and suburban bulletins have an all-round value
in that they reach jobbers, dealers, salesmen, consumers
— every element that makes up a market.

A beautiful example of a city and suburban bulletin is
shown in Fig. 9.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 43

68. The most important locations for city bulletins
are very often embellished by the plant owner with a
landscape treatment, or if the location is not suitable for
grass and shrubs, gravel or crushed rock is spread over
the entire area between the structure and the sidewalk.
This gravel is raked over sufficiently often to keep it
smooth and level and free from weeds.

City and suburban bulletins are painted usually three
times a year, with change of copy if ordered and approved
by the advertiser.

69. Ground Bulletins. — Ground bulletins are erected
on the surface of undeveloped property. The standard
structure measures 12| feet in height and 47 feet in length.
It is set on a base of lattice work. These painted-dis
play units are separated and individualized as much as
possible, the minimum separation between ground bulle
tins being 5 feet. An example of a typical gound bulletin
is displayed in Fig. 10.

An illuminated ground bulletin has at least six reflectors
with a 150- watt lamp in each reflector. If the bulletin is
in a locality where it is surrounded by other light competi
tion, the size of the lamps is increased to 200-watt or
more in order to insure effective lighting. As in the case
of all illuminated displays, illumination begins at sunset
and continues as long as circulation warrants.

70. Roof Bulletins. — Roof bulletins are built in accor
dance with rigid plans and specifications. They are
regularly inspected to insure their safe and proper main
tenance. The framework is designed under the direction
of competent engineers, to insure safety and to meet the
requirements of local building ordinances.

71. Preferred Position. — Preferred position is the
name given to painted displays located at downtown
points of great circulation in the larger cities. From these

44 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 45

536B— 4

46 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

points of vantage, preferred positions reach the resident
population of the city, people from the surrounding sub
urbs, and out-of-town visitors; for practically all these
people are naturally drawn to the downtown centers
where the larger stores, hotels, and theatres are located.

Displays of this type may be either ground or roof
bulletins that possess high advertising value because of
their dominant size, high visibility, and large circulation.

The preferred position illustrated in Fig. 11 is a roof
bulletin — erected according to standard specifications.
At night these bulletins are usually illuminated. Their
size varies according to space available. The advertising
copy is painted on the steel surface of the bulletin and
repainted every 4 months. If desired, the copy may be
changed at each repaint.

Because of conditions to be contended with in building
structures, it is impossible to adopt a standard size.
However, displays are of a standard type in all cases, and
so located as to dominate points of great circulation.

Preferred positions may be selected as individual bulle
tins to reach a particular part of the market, or selected
as a group to provide coverage of the entire city. But
wherever or however used, their message is outstanding.

72. Store Bulletins. — Store bulletins are affixed, at
eye-level (about 3 feet) to walls of buildings — right in the
line of vision to passing circulation in neighborhood com
munities. Their height is standard, 9 feet 10J inches.
Their length varies from 11 feet to 26 feet, depending on
the amount of space available.

These bulletins are usually attached to corner drug
stores, grocery stores, meat markets, delicatessens, or
cigar stores. They are essentially localized advertising
for the products sold through these outlets.

Such locations give them a "point of purchase" advan
tage for the products of every-day use, bought at neigh
borhood stores within walking distance of the home.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 47

Store bulletins may be used in any number desired and
in any section of the city. They are well suited to cover
specific markets, such as neighborhood shopping centers,
racial residential sections, or school neighborhoods.
They may be selected by the advertiser to do the particular
job required to keep his product moving. The best loca
tions for store bulletins are at transfer points and junc
tions of primary streets and neighborhood business centers.
These bulletins are usually illuminated where night traffic
warrants. The store bulletin illustrated in Fig. 12 is
placed just where it will attract the passer-by to the
drug store where the article advertised may be had.

Wall bulletins are structurally the same as roof bulle
tins, except that they have no supporting framework.
Wall bulletins are fastened to the face of buildings and
conform to standard dimensions as nearly as possible.
In some plants, no special distinction is made between
store and wall bulletins, since both are affixed to walls.
The bulletins are designed with removable sections so
that all painting can be done in the studio.

73. Railroad Bulletins. — Bulletins of this type are
constructed in two sizes, 18 feet high by 72 feet long and
12J feet high by 42 feet long. Bulletins of the larger size
are generally referred to as metropolitan railroad bulletins.
They are located adjacent to large cities where traffic is
greatest and where they reach both out-of-town and local
passengers. As trains approach the larger metropolises,
passengers are usually "all eyes," and it is at this time
that these bulletins command attention and register their
message. Bulletins of the smaller type are usually located
farther from the large cities; otherwise they are much the
same as the metropolitan bulletins.

Railroad bulletins reach the traveling public — busi
ness men, national travelers, and commuters — people of
better than average means; and, therefore, good prospects.

48 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 49

50 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

This type of bulletin is ideally suited to advertising
hotels, restaurants, theaters, stores, or high-class products
which appeal to the well-to-do people of America.

An excellent railroad bulletin is shown in Fig. 13.

Out-of-town visitors come to the cities from all over the
country — buyers, executives, and leaders in various walks
of life, whose influence reaches to all sections of the
country. The shift of the better classes from the city to
the suburban area has greatly increased the number of
commuters — a new army of daily travelers who represent
the best buying class in America. Railroad bulletins
reach both national travelers and commuters.

74. Adjacent to metropolitan cities, where railroad
traffic is unusually heavy, a special railroad bulletin may
be used, measuring 18 feet in height and 72 feet in length.
Some such bulletins are as high as 20 feet and as long as
300 or 400 feet with cut-outs reproducing packages or
factory buildings which extend over the top of the display.
A cut-out is a section of the board in outline, extending
above the bulletin top ; it may outline a package, such as a
tube of tooth paste. Cut-outs may be made so unique in
design that they are bound to get attention. They attract
by their contrast to the regular rectangular shape of the
ordinary board.

Railroad bulletins are erected wherever train move
ment justifies, paralleling the main lines of the principal
railroads and also covering suburban electric lines enter
ing important commercial centers. They stand on both
sides of the tracks at distances which enable the passengers
to read easily the advertisements displayed.

Railroad bulletins are set back far enough from the
tracks to give the eye full opportunity to read even when
trains are passing at high speed. It is very important
that the placing of the bulletin be not too close to the
tracks.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 51

It should also be recorded that local factories use a few
bulletins along the railroads approaching their home cities,
even erecting bulletins on their own grounds when the
factory happens to be located on the railroad main line.
Many cities, too, have bulletins inviting manufacturers to
locate there and depicting a few of the city's industrial
advantages.

Where there is a heavy commuter travel, railroad-
bulletin advertising has advantages for many other lines
of business, such as office appliances, portable houses,
building material, real estate, and especially shops. Com
muters can see these advertising messages twice a day.

75. Highway Bulletins. — Standard highway bulletins
are located on heavily-traveled highways. Care is taken
to make certain that bulletins are not placed where they
might interfere with natural scenic beauty. These bulle
tins are 12J feet high by 42 feet long.

During the last decade the use of the automobile has
grown rapidly until there are now approximately 24,700,000
cars in use and over 700,000 miles of hard-surfaced high
ways in the United States. Forty million people a year
go on long-distance motor trips. Shorter working hours
and labor-saving appliances in the home allow people
more time for recreation. Gold clubs, stadiums, parks,
athletic fields, and resorts dot the land. They satisfy
the demand of the millions for outdoor recreation.

Just as there are many different makes of automobiles
on the roads, there are many different kinds of people liv
ing in various towns, having their own particular tastes
and habits, accustomed to different standards of living,
reading different publications, going to different churches
— every one differing from every other one — but with
these few things in common: all ride in automobiles, al)
buy food, clothes, shelter, and amusement; and all see
outdoor advertising. It is the common denominator

52 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

— the medium which suits practically all kinds of products
and all kinds of people.

Highway bulletins may be used to cover the entire
country, a state, a particular territory, or the approaches
to a city; whichever suits the advertiser's requirements.

The standard highway bulletin face is enclosed in a
frame and structure having 3 feet of lattice and satis
factory base columns. In appearance it is similar to the
standard city or suburban bulletin. Highway bulletins
should be repainted twice a year. The molding and
lattice work of both highway and railroad bulletins are
painted a cream color.

The setting of the automobile-highway bulletin is in
three positions: the head-on, facing traffic directly, so as
to be read without effort; the semi-head-on, facing traffic
at an angle; and the flat-on, which stands parallel to the
road.

In Fig. 14 is shown a highway bulletin of de luxe semi-
head-on construction so placed as to give autoists a fair
chance to read.

76. Painted City Walls. — A painted city wall is an
advertisement painted on the wall of a building in any
of the larger cities throughout the country.

These painted walls average about 200 square feet in
size and are surrounded by a standard cream-colored
border. They are located at eye-level or just above it.
Day after day they command the attention of passersby,
stamping the advertiser's message in their memory, creat
ing belief, and building familiarity.

Located upon grocery stores, drug stores or other build
ings in neighborhood centers, painted walls reach the
housewife while she does her daily shopping, constantly
acting as a last-minute reminder at the point where the
advertised goods are sold. In factory sections they are
ideally suited to deliver an advertising message direct

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 53

to the wage earner. Tobacco products, work clothes, food
products — in fact, almost everything sold to these con
sumers, can be profitably advertised in this way.

Painted walls may be selected to cover any particular
market or combination of markets. By concentrating
where the opportunity for sales is best, the advertiser
obtains maximum effectiveness.

77. Painted Town Walls. — A painted town wall is an
advertisement painted on the wall of a building in any
town or small city throughout the country. Only walls
that offer a definite advertising value are chosen, and only
that portion is painted which provides the greatest
visibility. The average size of these walls is about 200
square feet.

A standard cream-colored border has been adopted
which adds to the uniformity of appearance.

The towns and cities of less than 50,000 population in
the United States represent the tremendous buying power
of 80,000,000 people — about two-thirds of the country's
entire population.

With painted-wall displays the manufacturer covers
the town. He delivers his story to the entire resident
population and to visitors from the surrounding territory
as well. The dealer, the manufacturer's salesmen, and
the jobber's salesmen are stimulated to new enthusiasm
by wall displays right in their own territories. They
have tangible evidence of their companies' support.

Painted walls may be purchased on a showing basis
for national, territorial, or state coverage.

They may also be used on a selective basis to cover
specific types of towns or classes of people. Important
highways may be covered by using walls in towns along
the route. Such a display provides a continuous selling
force for automotive products or any other product sold
to motorists — and the automobile owner is a logical con-

54 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

ARMOUR'S

STAR
BACON

Oi UCJGUS KUfcVOR

FIG. IS

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 55

sumer for virtually every commodity. Painted wall dis
plays in small cities may be used on a showing basis assur
ing uniform and adequate coverage of selective markets.

City and suburban walls are of various sizes — in
metropolitan centers they are usually vertical rectangles.
All city and suburban walls are surrounded by an orna
mental painted border, which gives the general effect of
a standard bulletin structure. That part of the wall which
is exposed to view, but is not a part of the advertising
surface, is usually painted a standard olive green.

City and suburban walls are sold on long-term con
tracts, usually for 1, 2 or 3 years. They are painted semi-
annually, with change of copy if desired by the advertiser.

In Fig. 15 is shown a good example of a painted city
wall. Town walls vary in position and dimensions, depend
ing on the conditions to be met.

78. Cost of Painted Displays. — The best painted dis
plays are executed by high-class sign painters and scenic
artists, and the bulletin or wall is usually sold at a specified
price. This price is based on the circulation value of the
location to the advertiser, the comparative dominance of
the display, the price the plant owner must pay for the
lease, and the cost of preparing the structure. The old-
time method of basing the charge for painting-display
surfaces at so much a square foot has been abolished, even
in remote rural districts. All prices are now quoted on a
unit of space, which varies according to the circulation
value of the medium.

Contracts are usually made for a period of 12 months,
and sometimes up to as many as 10 years. There are
some 6-month contracts; but these are the exception.
In the price paid by an advertiser is included the value
of the original sketches, the first painting, the repainting,
and all maintenance; so that the advertiser knows there
are no additional expense items.

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OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 61

Table II shows the cost of coverage in representative
cities of 50,000 or over throughout the United States as
of 1935. In this table, data are given for typical painted
displays as well as for downtown preferred position, boule
vard, and wall display. The figures given may vary as
conditions change, but they will be found sufficiently accu
rate for purposes of comparison.

79. In towns and smaller cities where the population
ranges from 1,000 to 50,000, painted walls may be used
to provide market coverage in most states. These walls
average about 200 square feet and the advertisement
proper is surrounded by a plain border. They may be
used for periods of one year or more. Table III will
serve as a basis for allotments and cost.

TABLE III

NUMBER AND COST OF WALLS IN TOWNS AND SMALL CITIES

Cities and Towns
Population

Number of
Walls

Cost
per Wall

Cost for Coverage
per Month

1,000 to 2,500

$6.00

2,500 to 5,000

6.00

12.00

5,000 to 7,500

6.00

18.00

7,500 to 10,000

6.50

26.00

10,000 to 15,000

7.00

35.00

15,000 to 25,000

7.50

52.50

25,000 to 35,000

8.00

72.00

35,000 to 50,000

8.50

102.00

These allotments are considered as a representative
display comparable with a representative (half) showing
in poster advertising. They are applicable in the event
an advertiser is interested in all the towns recommended
in any state or group of states. Where towns of only cer
tain population are selected, specific estimates must be
prepared. The minimum appropriation is 100 units per
state.

536B— 5

62 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

These wall displays serve a threefold purpose in the
market coverage they provide: (1) They cover the entire
resident population of the towns. (2) They reach the
farmers from a wide area who trade in these towns. (3)
They reach a large circulation of national travelers who
pass through these towns and who are impressed with an
advertiser's product which they see every few miles along
their route of travel.

80. Manner of Using Painted Displays. — Since each
painted display is a unit capable of separate treatment,
the methods of making use of such displays are various
and depend on the purpose the advertiser wishes to
accomplish. There are, however, three generally used
methods, which are as follows:

1. Using the ' 'high-spots," or centrally located bulletin boards
and walls where it is reasonable to assume that most of the
population passes at some time during a week or month.
These locations are the highest priced and have the greatest
circulation value, and displays on them make a strong im
pression on the public.

2. Making use of distributed locations to reach certain neighbor
hoods and shopping sections. For a grocery product, as an
example, it is advantageous to use displays in the neighbor
hoods where women go to the grocery every day. In fact,
for any product sold through a great number of retail stores,
the advertiser usually wants as many locations of this
character as will give him a general showing. Sometimes, in
a large city, he may be interested in only one or two particu
lar sections where the brand or package needs support. To
reach the people coming from points outside the city, he
may make use of one highway bulletin or a group of them, or
one railroad bulletin or a group of them, for whatever num
ber of displays are needed.

3. The using of displays in one or two locations to draw trade
to a local store from a neighborhood which logically is tribu
tary to that store. Products and services of interest to
motorists, such as accessories, tires, batteries, insurance, etc.,
are popularly featured on bulletins along highways, as are
also inns and summer hotels. Manufacturers and others
wanting to reach out-of-town buyers use bulletins along
railroads.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 63

ILLUMINATED DISPLAYS

81. Illuminated Bulletins. — Where night crowds are
comparatively large, it is profitable to illuminate some of
the bulletins that occupy positions of special prominence.
The additional expense of illumination is justified by the
increased time of circulation, as the bulletins are then
visible for about 17 hours a day. The time when the
bulletins are illuminated is, of course, the most valu
able.

The lighting is done indirectly by reflectors extending
out from the bulletin and throwing an even glare over the
entire bulletin surface. Some of these bulletins have a
succession of colored globes such as blue, red, and white.
These bulletins are built in de luxe framing and many
have a change of copy two and three times a year. They
will be found mostly on roofs, but also on street levels and
along motor highways close to cities.

Illuminated-bulletin locations are determined upon
only after careful selection from the choicest spots; and
only artistic designs are used, because of the intrinsic
advertising value and the cost of the locations. The
bulletins are of steel surface with the de-luxe frame. All
illuminated displays receive three paintings a year and
other classifications two, with change of copy, if desired,
at time of each repaint.

All locations sold on an illuminated basis are lighted
from dusk to midnight, although this period may vary,
owing to local conditions. In the Times Square District,
New York City, all such displays are lighted until 1 :00
in the morning.

It is customary to embody in the contract a special
clause which gives an advertiser 25 per cent credit pro rata
for any period of non-illumination due to any cause
whatsoever.

64 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

82. Neon Signs. — Because of their brilliance and high
visibility, even in dull and foggy weather, neon signs, in
spite of their increased cost over electric signs, have come
into fairly general use. Unlike the usual electric sign,
neon light is distributed evenly throughout the lettering
of the sign and presents a smooth, unbroken appearance.
Essentially, the neon light is an elongated tube with an
electrode at each end, to which a high voltage is applied.
This causes a current flow within the tube from one end of
the tube to the other. By introducing into the vacuum
a small amount of one of the rare gases, the entire space
becomes highly luminous when the space current flows.
The kind of gas used determines the color. The colors
usually available are orange-red, violet-blue, and green.
While neon is not as yet applicable to moving figures, yet
for borders and fixed elements, like names, floral effects
and the like, its attention value and inherent beauty and
brilliance serve to enhance the moving parts of a sign.

ELECTRIC SPECTACULARS

83. Nature of Display. — Brilliant colored lights, strik
ing illumination, and mechanical motion are combined in
the displays known as electric spectaculars, to produce an
effect of ever changing light and color and action.

Some special feature, symbol or model of the product
advertised, and its trade name, are usually featured in the
design. Running words in moving electric light are also
generally included, and these carry a complete message,
which may be changed whenever desired. Sometimes
figures that appear to move with lifelike action form part
of the design and add to its attention and interest value.

Electric spectaculars are one of the most exclusive forms
of advertising. They are limited to a comparatively small
number of locations at centers in the larger cities, where
night life constitutes a major part of the circulation.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAB ADVERTISING 65

The influence of spectaculars is nation-wide. In
addition to reaching the population of the city and its
metropolitan area, they also reach a large number of
visitors from all parts of the country. These people are
usually the most active and progressive in the towns
from which they come. They are quick to observe what
is being featured in the brilliant lights of the city, and the
names they see they naturally associate with national
leadership. This influence tends to develop into national
trends and to spread to all parts of the country,

84. Essentially, a spectacular display is an outdoor-
advertising unit that delivers the advertiser's message by
means of characters, designs, and letters, studded with
incandescent lamps. Because of various position condi
tions at each location, they vary in size and type of con
struction.

One of the most imposing of these outdoor displays
probably is the gigantic Chevrolet Spectacular on Michi
gan Avenue, Chicago. This spectacular is nearly 400
feet high and cost about a quarter million dollars to build.
Others, although small, are effective because of their
unique position. The sites for effective use of these dis
plays are limited to locations in concentrated night circu-
culation centers that are visible from many heavy-traffic
points or for a long distance along a thoroughfare that
carries particularly heavy traffic. The display is generally
erected on the walls or roofs of buildings and in plain view
of the heaviest night circulation of a city.

Spectacular display has reached its highest develop
ment on "The Great White Way" in New York City,
where, on Broadway from Times Square to Columbus
Circle, the night scene is the most amazing in the world.
National advertisers estimate that a spectacular display
on Broadway has 25 per cent local value and 75 per cent
national value.

66 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 67

Atlantic City, Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Los Angeles,
San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Boston, and many
other cities furnish interesting examples of this form of
advertising.

While the night circulation is the chief aim of the
spectacular-display advertiser, yet electric displays are
now designed so that they will also have day value; that
is, so that the advertisement will deliver its message effec
tively during the daylight hours when it is not illuminated.
This greatly increases the circulation of the display.

The electric spectacular does not take the place of
posters, painted bulletins, and other forms of outdoor
advertising. It supplements them — vitalizes them, gives
them dominance, adds materially to the productiveness
of the outdoor advertising dollar. The electric spectacular
is the "four-color-center spread" of the outdoor medium.
It is big, dominant, dramatic, affording an opportunity
for the expression of individuality that can be found in
no other form of advertising. And it is exclusive.

Usually a spectacular display functions as the climax
of an extensive advertising campaign in other mediums.
It gives new life to all other advertising of the product and
lends the final touch of emphasis and dominance.

Although the effects produced would seem to have
reached the -height of ingenuity and brilliancy, yet the
future will undoubtedly see even more beautiful and inter
esting designs in this form of advertising, which represents
a rare combination of creative imagination and practical
engineering ability of a high order.

A semi-spectacular is a combination of electric display
with an illuminated bulletin, usually on the roof of a build
ing, and designed to reach day and night circulation.

85. Description of Displays. — Ordinarily, electric
displays are built on staunch skeleton steel frames on roofs,
but a few are on the fagades of buildings. The lettering

68 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

OUTDOOE AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 69

consists of sheet-steel cut-out letters, studded with
incandescent globes and lighted by flashers, which are
mechanical, clocklike inventions driven by motors that
automatically turn the current on and off. Most spec
tacular electric displays have a variety of colors in
the globes, and depend on motion and action for their
eye appeal. A word or two appears, then the lights sud
denly are shut off, then other words appear.

Pictorial effects are growing more intricate, more
real, and more attractive every year. We see borders of
flowers and fruits in delightful colors, fountains playing,
wheels turning, automobiles rushing by, and a number of
other equally wonderful effects. It has been demonstrated
conclusively that moving devices will attract more public
attention than those that do not move. Consequently,
outside the field of spectacular electric work, electricity
serves to produce motion in barber signs, in store-front
signs, in window displays, etc.

In Fig. 16 several examples of various electric spec
taculars are given. These spectaculars may be seen in
almost every large city in the country. A simple spec
tacular electric display, but one nevertheless of great
beauty, is shown in black and white in Fig. 17.

86. How Displays Are Sold. — The consideration and
application of spectacular electrical displays is a process
requiring a technical knowledge of location values, of heavy
steel construction, of lighting, wiring, arrangement of
flashes, arrangement of motographs, etc. The displays
are planned in all details, blueprints are made of the con
struction, the location and number of the globes are indi
cated, the candlepower is outlined, and a complete drawing
in color is submitted to the advertiser on a specially
prepared black cardboard to represent the dark back
ground of the evening sky. Very often the advertising
agency originates an idea before soliciting an advertiser,

70 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

and secures the contract upon the cleverness of the idea
presented. This contract, covering a certain period of
years, means that the advertiser has an unobstructed dis
play of great magnitude, something the public will talk
about; something distinctive, big, and rememberable, the
news value of which will give publicity in daily papers
worth a great many dollars in space value.

87. Cost of Displays. — As is the case with all indi
vidual outdoor displays, the price depends on the circula
tion value of the location and the character and size of the
display. The cost of the country's choicest locations
will not average more than 20 cents per thousand of circu
lation per day. This represents the total cost to the
advertiser, such as rental, construction, and maintenance
of frames, and the manufacture, fabrication, placing, main
tenance, and nightly inspection of the spectacular copy.
The displays are usually sold on contracts running for a
number of years.

Generally, the basic prices of electric displays are
subject to increase when the design is complicated or the
number of flashes desired in the action is very large.
The increase is figured at cost to cover the additional
necessary expense.

All displays are lighted from sunset until midnight at
least. In many large cities the big electrics are turned off
between 1 A.M. and 1:30 A.M. A nightly patrol service
is maintained to insure the proper illumination. All
spectacular displays must be erected under the supervision
of qualified engineers and must be regularly inspected to
insure their safe and proper maintenance.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 71

STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

88. Scope of Car Advertising. — Street-car advertising
is regarded usually as a sort of specialized form of outdoor
advertising, although members of the regular outdoor
advertising trade are not inclined to consider it as having
any relation to their industry. While the street car has
been displaced in a good many places by the auto bus, yet
it is far from being in the discard, especially in the larger
cities. Contrary to general belief, more passengers in
many cities are being carried than ever before. Trolley
cars have been greatly improved for speed, quietness, and
convenience. They are coming back into public favor.

By far the greater number of cars in operation are
electric surface cars, the remainder being elevated and
subway cars, suburban railway lines, and bus lines of all
kinds, whether suburban, interurban or so-called trans
continental. So far as advertising is concerned, they
may all be comprehended in the general term, street car.
Many long-distance buses do not carry advertising,
except occasionally at the ends of the bus, because the
space above the seats is used for the storage of baggage.

89. Use of Street Cars. — The number of people who
ride in street cars varies considerably in different com
munities. In cities like New York, Chicago, and Phila
delphia, almost everyone rides, whether it be by subway,
elevated, or surface cars or the various buses that have in
recent years taken the place of the regular street car on
many routes. Owing to the fact that a large number of
people in a given community ride on an average of two or
three times a day, it is difficult to get figures that are
accurate. The generally accepted average for passenger
vehicles of all cities and towns is 500 passengers per car
per day. It is estimated that in the United States alone
there are over 70,000 cars displaying advertising cards, dis-

72 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

tributed over 3,800 cities and towns located in every state
in the Union.

Through the cars, one may reach potentially more
than 20,000,000 riders, twice a day, every day in the
week, at a cost of $12,000 per week, or less than 8/1000
cents per person per day.

90. Good Points of Car Advertising. — The street car
offers the advertiser a day-and-night color display from
one end of the line to the other. He can reach the general
public quickly and easily. The cards make their appeal
when the passenger is in a comparatively receptive mood,
since he is generally at leisure. Shoppers on their way
down town or coming in from outlying territory may
easily be reached by the local advertiser through the street
car medium.

Since cars are usually of standard size, none has any
advantage over another so far as size is concerned. The
advantage of colors on the card is a very great one —
products may be pictured in an interesting way. The
advertiser can show his product in its actual shape and
colors — often an effectual prevention of substitution.
Since the space occupied by the card is limited, its message,
like that of the outdoor poster, contains, or should con
tain, a brief, effectively displayed selling point.

The car card, like the poster, may be used either
locally or nationally on a particular route, at any
season, and is moreover quite flexible in its application
in that it may be timely, and may call attention to other
advertising, to window displays or to any feature that
the advertiser wishes to emphasize. Macy's, the great
New York City department store, utilizes car cards in
several different ways. The two most important of these
are first, to announce important events, as special offerings
in their various departments; second, to build prestige for
the store by placing unusually colorful and attractive

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 73

cards before the car riders, stressing "style authority, good
taste, and economy" as features of their store.

91. What May be Advertised. — It is well to bear in
mind that the car card is in reality a miniature outdoor
poster and that substantially the same suggestions regard
ing amount and style of copy apply in both cases. The
local financial institution, bakeries, laundries, food makers,
manufacturers of soaps, tobaccos, household supplies,
dealers in real estate, clothing and furnishings, haber
dashery, used cars, and many other things that come
close to every-day living may very profitably be advertised
by means of the car card, and many really successful
campaigns have been conducted in this way. Just as
the card is a sort of outdoor poster, so it may also be con
sidered a miniature show window, since retail stores have
had much success through this medium. Particularly
is this the case with department and dry goods stores.

92. Drawbacks to Use of Cards. — The principal draw
backs to car cards are the restricted amount of space, the
difficulty, usually, of changing copy quickly, and the fact
that very little copy can be displayed to advantage.
Cards are generally best used as an accessory to other
forms of advertising, whether newspaper, magazine or
radio. Seasonable articles can usually be advertised for
a sufficient period to get the message before the public.
Cards for this purpose are usually placed over the adver
tiser's regular cards, so that they may be easily removed
as soon as the event has passed with which the advertise
ment has been associated.

SIZES AND POSITIONS OF CAR CARDS

93. Standard Sizes. — The standard size card is 11 in.
X21 in. It will fit all trolley cars and buses, so that one
who advertises nationally can use one set of designs.
The average street car has thirty-two spaces for cards.

74 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

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OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 75

In the larger cities some of the big electric cars hold
thirty-six cards. Most elevated, subway, interurban,
and suburban cars have from four to six end spaces in
addition to space in the racks, which make a total of from
forty to fifty spaces. The cards in elevated trains and
some suburban coaches are 16 in.X24 in. Spaces over
the doors at the ends of these cars are 16 in.X48 in.
Frames of various sizes are also installed on both sides of
the doors of some center-door coaches.

FIG. 19

94. Positions of Cards. — Except for the end and odd

spaces in the elevated and suburban coaches, there is no
preferred space in a car. Almost all cars, particularly
those of late construction, have both side and cross seats.
The average person has no choice with regard to his seat,
especially after the car is partly filled, so he occupies a
different position in regard to the car cards every time he
rides. The avertiser who has his card in the center of a
car will miss many readers who are seated directly under
or ahead of his card, whereas the card that appears at the
very end of the rack often gets added attention from
those passengers who get up just before their destination
is reached and stand just inside the door. No particular

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OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 77

position is sold, except under certain special conditions.
The advertiser is supposed to take whatever position is
assigned him by the man who places the cards in the
street cars. An effort, however, is made to alternate
light and dark cards so as to give variety.

In Figs. 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 are shown excellent
examples of present-day street-car cards of the standard
or regulation size.

Two cards that were used at the ends of the car are
shown in Figs. 23 and 24. The space occupied by cards
of this nature will vary in dimensions according to con
ditions or make of car. The cards shown are, in the ori
ginal, 21 in.X21J in., or practically square, and were
designed especially to fit the space for which they were
intended.

An extreme size of card, intended to be displayed over
the inside entrances to cars and thus be conspicuous from
any position in the car, is shown in Figs. 25 and 26. The
only size of card that can be depended on to remain con
stant is the regulation size shown in Figs. 18 to 22.

All of these cards, it will be noted, have the utmost
visibility and appeal to the primal instincts of the general
public.

COST OF CAR ADVERTISING

95. Basis of Charge. — The unit basis of cost of car
advertising space is so much per thousand passengers
carried. The costs in the car field vary considerably,
depending on the number of cars the advertiser may use,
the number of passengers carried, and so on. Rates for
cards vary from city to city, and in the larger cities from
route to route. Taking the United States, as a whole,
prices range from 30 cents to $2.00 per card per car per
month. Of course these costs are only averages and are
subject to change.

S36B— 6

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 79

96. Contracts for Less Than Full Run. — An advertiser
may buy one-half or even one-fourth of the cars in most
cities. Wherever less than all the cars are bought, whether
of the whole city or of a division, a premium is charged.
Some companies make contracts for as short a time as one
week, twice a week, or even daily, but these cases are
rare. The larger companies make no shorter contracts
than 3 months, and these only on special conditions.
The rate on short-time contracts is proportionately higher.

97. How Car Advertising Is Sold. — Car advertising is
sold by companies organized and operated to handle
this medium. It is not sold through advertising agencies.
The business is highly systematized and is controlled by a
comparatively few companies who maintain close relations
with the Street Railways Advertising Company, New York,
who control street-car advertising in the United States,
Canada; and Cuba, and are said to be the largest adver
tising organization in the world.

The advertising is sold by full showings, half showings,
or quarter showings, much as poster advertising is sold.
A full showing means a card in every car ; a half showing,
in every other car, and so on. Some advertisers use one
series of cards several years, installing the same cards during
certain months each year. Other advertisers print their
cards on both sides, thus saving on stock and printing.

98. Cost of Cards. — The advertiser pays for his
cards in addition to his space. These cards are furnished
for the most part by the advertising company operating
the cars, most of which companies maintain idea, copy, and
art departments for this line of work. The companies
furnish complete car advertising campaigns for almost
all branches of local business and the cards are made up in
advance except for the advertiser's name. There is a
series for department stores, banks, grocers, haberdashers,
tailors, laundries, ice and coal dealers, and many others.

80 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

New series are put out each year, so that a 5-year adver
tiser can always get new cards. Syndicate stock cards
often present the advertiser's message more effectively
than would his own cards, and cost little more than the
charge for imprinting.

Many advertisers, however, prefer to prepare their own
cards or else have them made by outside agents. In such
cases the cost of production depends on the charge for the
design, the number of colors employed, and their reproduc
tion by lithography or ordinary printing. The work
should, of course, be done by a concern that specializes
in the designing and printing of car cards rather than by
the ordinary commercial printer.

In the largest cities the car-card companies offer a
merchandising service to car advertisers. When an
advertiser is ready to introduce his goods, the representa
tives help him secure local distribution in the various
stores, in a manner similar to that in which the merchandis
ing departments of newspapers function.

PLANNING THE STREET-CAR CAMPAIGN

99. Analysis of Conditions. — Most successful street
car campaigns are planned far ahead. One car card
never made an advertiser. It takes several cards changed
frequently to move the public mind, especially if car adver
tising is the only medium used. The advertiser must
have an object in mind, a definite plan, if his cards are to
produce results. This object is usually to sell certain
goods, although frequently the advertising is used merely
to announce something of interest, for an educational
purpose, or to promote better ways of living. It is impor
tant that the message which the card is to deliver be told
in the most attractive manner.

100. Bearing in mind the fact that the advertisement
first must be seen; second, read; third, understood; and

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 81

last, believed, the card maker has the following tools at his
command with which to convey his message to his readers :
type, illustrations, colors, and good, printing. Not all
of these are necessary to any one card. Much depends
on the object and the article to be advertised. National
advertisers almost invariably use color and illustration,
with but very little type matter. Their object is usually
to introduce or to keep a certain package before the public
in the most attractive manner possible, thereby insuring
a consumer demand that forces the dealer to handle their
goods and prevents substitutions.

101. The local advertiser dealing with consumers
only, and who in most cases is already well known to his
readers, has to impress upon them that he has a better
store, more attractive prices, and gives better service
than his competitors. If he is the only merchant of his
kind in a town, he can create an increased demand for
his goods. All this can hardly be expressed except in con
siderable type matter. While more condensed and not
nearly so descriptive as newspaper copy, the local car
advertising should be very direct and just as personal as
newspaper advertising.

The method of finding the interpreting theme is as fol
lows: The prospective advertiser's product is studied
carefully, the market analyzed, and the consumer response
evaluated. The purpose is to discover that combination
of words and ideas which will click most easily in the
reader's mind. If a striking picture or a simple phrase
causes him to think beyond what he sees and reads, then
the car card has done its work. Herein lies the lure of the
motion picture, especially the silent drama. It encourages
the observer to enlarge mentally, upon what is presented
on the screen. He himself supplies much of the so-called
"continuity" between separate scenes. In like manner,
the ideal car card will give the observer just enough to start
his mind working and carry him beyond the picture. Car

82 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

cards, particularly those in color, are memory-jogging and
mind arresting. If the picture and wording bring such
results, then it can be said that the interpreting theme has
been found.

An excellent example of just such a reaction is shown in
the card illustrated in Fig. 21.

PREPARATION OF CARDS

102. Styles and Sizes of Type. — The choice of type
can make or ruin a card. The advertisement writer must
bear in mind that a card will stand only so much type if it
is to be read, and must prepare his copy accordingly.
Experience has shown that certain styles of type are more
readable, especially at an angle, than others. Car cards
are often read hurriedly and always at a distance of some
feet, so that there is also a limit to the size of the type that
may be used.

To make the card easy to read, the same style of type
should be used throughout, if possible, and not in too many
different sizes. Lower-case letters are easier to read than
upper-case, and the body matter of a card should always
be set in lower case. Many advertisers now use lower
case not only for introductory lines but even for the title
and the firm name.

Proofs for street-car cards should never be judged at
a range of a foot or two, but should be placed across the
room and viewed from a distance of 6 to 10 feet.

103. The average 11"X21" card allows for one head
ing line, three or four body lines, the firm name, and an
address line, and one small line at the bottom of the card.
A card should seldom contain more than fifty words, and if
illustrations are used the number of words should be less.

There is a reason for limiting the number of words on
a card. To reach all the passengers in a car, an advertise
ment must be printed in type large enough to be read

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 83

easily, not only by those directly opposite the card, but
also those at an angle. This calls for extended type of
fairly good size — 48-point is about the smallest type read
able at the usual distance. As small as 36-point is some
times used in the hope that enough interest will have been
aroused by the main points of the card to cause the reader
to examine the card very closely and by so doing read the
smaller lines. As large as 144-point is sometimes used
for title lines. The average card runs as follows : 72-point
for the introductory line, 48-point to 60-point for the body
line, 84- to 96-point for the title, and 60-point to 72-point
for the address.

104. If a space of 1J inches is allowed at each end of
an II" X21" card, the length of each line of type is limited
to 18 inches. If an illustration is used, there is even less
space. When only type is used, care must be taken to
allow plenty of white space in order not to tire the reader.
A full line of 144-point (about 18 inches) allows for not
more than one word of ten letters ; a line of 96-point, not
more than three words of six letters each; 84-point, about
four words of the same length; 72-point, five words, 60-
point, six words; and 48-point, as many as eight words.

105. Laying Out the Card. — The car cards shown in
these pages have been reduced from cards that were used
in actual campaigns, and while they are of satisfactory
size as subjects for study, they are a little smaller than it
is practical to make a layout for reproduction. A layout
one-third the actual size of the card, or 7 inches by 3f
inches for the standard-size card, is large enough to give a
good idea of the general appearance when set up.

A layout for a card in plain black and white, to be used
by a drug store is shown in Fig. 27. While it is neither
necessary nor desirable to indicate exactly either the size
or the style of types to be used, it is advisable to give the
printer or artist some idea of the relative values of the

84 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

~_ <^«&«£ <&«££

Lesteryaryer

FINNIEY'S-

CANTOflS ORIGI/W CUT RATE DWG STORE-
"-415 MARKET AVE-.,NORTH- /

FIG. 27

display desired, so that he may have a pretty clear idea
of what is wanted. Fig. 28 shows a reproduction of the
set-up card.

In certain instances, local concerns which are non-com
petitive, like banks, will put on a cooperative advertising
campaign, with gratifying results. A layout for one card
of a series is shown in Fig. 29, and the completed job in
Fig. 30.

Not many independent ad-writers are called on to
design cards in detail; the advertiser has his choice of

Say, Yarger:

Don't forget about the men in this car.
If they don't know by this time that we
carry the best line of shaving creams, Jolm Svler
razor blades and lotions — tell them to
come in and get acquainted/*

Syler

Lester Yarger

FINNEYS

CANTON'S ORIGINAL CUT RATE DRUG STORE
— 415 MARKET AVE.. NORTH —

FlG. 28

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 85

A Valuable Banking Hint:

Overdrawing ou
bank account -

your credit and
j your pood '/na/n?^

Few things can Jwm your
repufation more than, having
jour checks returned marked
^'Insufficient Funds"

FIG. 29

using the stock card or submitting his ideas to be worked
up for an original series by the car advertising company,
with suggestions as to colors and illustrations. In such
cases the plan of making a rough layout gives the clearest
idea of what is desired.

106. Purpose of Illustrations. — Car cards should be
illustrated if possible.

An illustration will add from 25 per cent to 50 per cent
to the strength of a card. Pen-and-ink drawings repro-

A Valuable Banking Hint:

Overdrawing your
bank account

impairs your credit and
tarnishes your good name

IT Few things can harm, your
|| reputation more than having
I your checks returned marked

I "Insufficient Funds"

FIG. 30

86 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

duced in zinc, halftones reproduced in copper and zinc,
water colors reproduced in zinc or process, and different
styles of lithography easily lend themselves to car cards.

107. Use of Color. — The national advertiser and
many local advertisers find a strong ally in color printing
and lithography. Color is a great attention-getter.
Where considerable type matter is necessary and no illus
trations are used, colored tint blocks, borders, and bands
add to the effectiveness of the card. When the advertiser
can afford it, illustrations are usually more pleasing
reproduced in color than in black and white.

It is often advisable to show the exact appearance of
a package, and to do this requires the use of color. A card
lavish in color needs little type matter.

108. The one danger in using colors is that of giving
an impression of permanency instead of action. Many
advertisers, especially retail merchants, believe that too
much color weakens the effect of an announcement designed
for quick action. Some readers know that it takes longer
to prepare a card in several colors, especially if it contains
pictures, and the impression gained from such a card is
generally one of permanency. For that reason sale cards
and announcements are printed in one or not more than
three colors, using type only, or type and pen-and-
ink illustrations. Most national advertisers, however,
really wish to give an impression of permanency, and they
may use colors as freely as conditions seem to require.

Color in car advertising is something that must be used
with judgment. When a card is put through seven or eight
lithographic printings, the results are apt to be disappoint
ing. A few well-chosen colors will give the best results.
Possibly the best color combinations come from placing
yellow or orange against black or deep blue, or black against
orange or a clear yellow. On car cards it is possible to
use the dark background because the card is generally

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 87

exposed longer to view than is the case with other outdoor
media. This dark background, too, often presents a
marked contrast between itself and adjacent cards.

Certain colors, such as yellow and blue, are more easily
remembered by readers than other colors. Gray makes a
poor solid background for type, but it is a pleasing color
in a border. Red makes a good color for heavy lines, black
is best for small lines.

109. Printing. — Car cards require careful printing
Because for the most part they are all of one size and in.
equal position, advertisers vie with one another to get the
best results with their space.

The stock used is usually six-ply, enameled-surface
cardboard, which permits the use of halftones, wood-cuts,
line engravings, and lithography. Only high-grade stock
should be employed, as the cheaper grades will not take
colors well or stand up under the handling they will receive.
If but one side of the card is to be used, stock coated on
one side only is sufficient.

One color only is seldom used in printing car cards.
Two colors bring out the important lines of copy by con
trast and allow for a different-colored border or for a two-
color illustration. Three- and four-color cards are very
common and easily executed by the average printer.
Where more than five colors are used for any considerable
quantity of cards, it is advisable to have the cards litho
graphed.

A good card printer usually has all the prominent type
faces in stock, as well as an assortment of borders, bands,
and tint blocks, which add to the appearance of a card at a
very little increased cost.

110. How to Avoid Common Mistakes. — One thought
makes a stronger impression on the reader than several,
and is easier to remember. For this reason it is advisable
to express but one thought in one card; and the fewest

88 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

words that will carry the idea plainly and strongly should
be used. In preparing copy for a card, it is well to write out
the thought to be expressed in as short form as is natural.
Then go over it carefully and strike out the least important
words, until the sense would be changed if more were taken
away. Then be sure that the remaining words are the
best possible choice for expressing the thought. The
words used should be words in ordinary use, short and
simple, so that persons with a limited education will have
no trouble in understanding them. Remember that the
aim of the car card is to reach all classes of people.

The same principle applies to illustrations. They
should first be simple, then beautiful. A complex picture,
even if it catches the reader's eye, is likely to be forgotten
quickly.

It is well not to make a card too attractive. While
attention value is the first point to remember in designing
a card, it is possible for a beautiful picture or too clever a
slogan to claim so much of the reader's attention that he
does not see or remember what the card is intended to sell.

If the subject to be illustrated by the card is too large
to be reproduced in natural size, it is better to use only a
part of the figure and show it large, rather than show the
whole figure small.

111. The mistake of too much sameness in the cards
may be avoided by changing not only the copy each
month but the color schemes, borders, type arrangements,
and type itself.

Cards on tinted stock give excellent results when color
is used for the type. A rich brown ink on an india-tinted
cardboard is quite distinctive.

The eye always first strikes the advertisement about
one-third of the distance from the bottom and reads from
left to right. The strongest position on the card then is
at the left, just above the bottom of the card.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 89

When an original illustration is planned for a card,
it costs very little more for a hand-lettered title and intro -
ductory line. If the lettering is not too artistic it is often
stronger than plain type.

DETAILS OF THE CAMPAIGN

112. Series of Advertisements. — The street-car cam
paign differs from other campaigns only in the space
limitations of each advertisement. Where an advertise
ment in other mediums may be spread before the reader,
and long stories may be given with much detail, as in the
newspapers and magazines, the street-car card must,
as in the outdoor poster, present its message in one
flash. The advertiser who uses merely a card or two
containing his name or the name of his product and
perhaps a slogan, will fail to get the results he desires.
His arguments should be laid out in a connected series
of advertisements, just as he would use them in a news
paper or magazine campaign, if he would sustain the
interest of car patrons. In other words, he must have a
purpose and a pretty well-defined program.

113. Scattered Advertising. — An advertiser should
not use different cards advertising different products at
the same time unless as much space is used for each product
as if only one were advertised. It has been demonstrated
by department stores that better results are obtained by
advertising one department vigorously at one time than
by dividing the space among several departments.

1 14. Prices. — Prices should be given on a card when
ever possible. As a rule, 5- and 10-cent articles always
show price.

115. Checking the Results. — The importance of
checking the results of car advertising is not less than in
the case of other mediums. Advertisements in some
mediums may be clipped out and brought to a merchant's

90 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

store, but the card in the street car may send the reader to
the store without mention of the advertisement; therefore,
special checking methods are necessary.

The only sure way to check results from car advertising
is occasionally to advertise a special article at a special price
in the cars alone. If the article advertised is at all attrac
tive and seasonable, and other conditions are natural, the
actual sales on that article should be a fair check on the
advertising medium, if sufficient time is allowed for all the
readers in the territory covered to see the advertisement.

OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING 91

Review Questions

NOTE. — These Review Questions ure given merely that you may test your
self on your general knowledge of the points discussed in this lesson. If there is
any question that you are unable to answer, this indicates that you have missed
the point involved and should read the text again. You can readily find the
answers to all of these questions in the text.

(1) Compare the effectiveness and scope of outdoor advertising
with that of other forms of advertising.

(2) How many organizations are there in the outdoor industry,
and in what way do these organizations cooperate?

(3) What are the Standards of Practice observed by the Outdoor
Association?

(4) How many different types of traffic must be considered in
estimating the value of location?

(5) (a) What is the standard size of a poster? (6) What is the
size of the poster panel in which the poster is set?

(6) What is a poster showing, and when is it advisable to purchase
a "full showing?"

(7) How many different positions are available for placing out
door advertisements to make them seen most readily, and
which position do you think most valuable?

(8) How is outdoor advertising classified with regard to scope and
appeal, and how many different forms of outdoor advertising
can you name?

(9) What is the advantage of an illuminated painted display
over a plain bulletin display?

(10) (a) Why does a spectacular electric display in the larger cities
have a national influence? (6) Describe the neon light.

(11) If you were planning to use an outdoor campaign, what steps
would you take to secure data on showings and on costs?

12) Name the different processes used in reproducing posters and
mention the different kinds of posters available.

(13) (a) Describe the city and suburban bulletin and name the
different types. (6) What advantage have these bulletins
over the average poster?

(14) Name the principal points in favor of street-car advertising,
and give the standard size of a street-car card.

92 OUTDOOR AND STREET-CAR ADVERTISING

(15) Name a class of business that you believe not well adapted
to street-car advertising, and state the reason.

(16) How is car advertising sold, and how are contracts made?

(17) What is the value of illustration and color in car cards?

(18) How many words can be used effectively on a car card when
not illustrated, and how would you test the legibility of a card?

(19) What is the importance of the interpreting theme in street-car
advertising, and how would this theme be found?

RADIO BROADCAST
ADVERTISING

Serial 3360A (PART 1) Edition 1

DEVELOPMENT OF RADIO
FOREWORD

1. The person who contemplates association with
radio broadcasting — as a performer, producer, advertis
ing agent, or sponsor — assumes an obligation to the
public. It is inherent in his daily work, and the principles
which guide his activities are similar to or parallel with
the principles that govern the members of the medical
profession, who for more than 2,000 years have subscribed
to the "Hippocratic oath," first enunciated about 300 B.C.
in Greece. This oath is in part as follows :

"The regimen I adopt shall be for the benefit of my
patients according to my ability and judgment, and not
for their hurt or for any wrong. I will give no deadly
drug, though it be asked of me, nor will I counsel such
. . . Whatsoever house I enter, there will I go for the
benefit of the sick, refraining from all wrong doing or
corruption ..."

While the principles which guide the activities of those
connected with radio broadcasting are not given the
formality of an oath, the obligation must be recognized.
This is not abstract moralizing, but the recognizing of
the practical, business principle on which the business of
radio must rest.

More than twenty million families in this country own
radio sets. They are families of every kind, and in every
conceivable circumstance. These families comprise the
direct audience of the radio broadcaster, the immediate

536B— J

2 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

market of the radio advertiser. Radio programs enter
those homes at the invitation of the listener, bringing
ideas that influence opinion, providing entertainment,
instruction, news.

Collectively these families control the destiny of radio.
It is within their power to change it from a private enter
prise to one controlled entirely by government, as in other
countries; it is within their power to make it a profitable
medium for the advertiser, or one in which he can but
lose his money. And the thing that decides these families
in their use of this life-or-death power is the character of
the programs they permit to enter their homes. Let
programs become dull, let their advertising message be
misleading or fraudulent, let their influence be degrading or
stained with bias and propaganda, let any general or
protracted deviation from decency and good taste intrude
on radio broadcasting and these twenty million or more
families will be forced to take action.

The public has spent millions of dollars for radio sets;
thousands of pay envelopes depend on radio; perhaps as
much as half a billion dollars has been spent on radio's
physical plant, and on the programs it broadcasts. All
this huge investment depends on the character and good
taste of the individual human beings in the radio business.
Entirely aside from moral or humanitarian considerations,
plain business common sense requires that no man en
danger the existence of radio by giving way to the admit
tedly powerful and numerous temptations to indulge in
dishonorable practices.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 3

PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF RADIO

2. The Radio Spectrum. — Electrical energy sent
through the air travels in a series of waves of uniform depth
and length. Each complete wave is called a cycle. The
number of complete cycles of the electric impulse con
tained in one second is called the frequency.

This frequency is subject to control through a wide
range. And the complete range of frequencies available
for broadcasting use is called the radio spectrum. The
lowest frequency is 10,000 cycles per second, or, as it is
usually expressed, 10 kilocycles. The high frequencies
that are considered potentially available for broadcasting,
range above 60,000 kilocycles per second .

This complete band of radio frequencies is divided
among the various classes of users who broadcast. The
lower frequencies, up to 550 kilocycles, were in use for
" wireless" communication long before there was any com
mercial radio broadcasting as we know it. They are
reserved for the use of the government, for aviation, and
for ships and the shore points with which they communi
cate.

3. Frequency Band Available for Advertisers. — The

only band in the radio spectrum at present available for
commercial broadcasting in the United States and Canada
covers the span from 550 kilocycles to 1,500 kilocycles.
Above that point lies another band for maritime use, then
a section for amateurs and above it a section for experi
mental work in visual broadcasting. All frequencies not
otherwise designated for specific or experimental uses are
reserved for future allocation by the government.

Therefore, the section of the radio spectrum with which
advertisers are concerned is that lying between 550 kilo
cycles and 1,500 kilocycles. Here is a range of 950 kilo
cycles into which must be fitted all the commercial broad
casting of the United States and Canada. Theoretically,

4 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

this would make 950 available wave lengths, and, since
each wave is independent of its neighbor, there would be
950 broadcasting channels available to the radio stations
that do commercial broadcasting. However, in practice
it has been found that no commercial radio set can be
made so selective that it will eliminate all but a single
wave length. Attempts to work within such narrow limits
have demonstrated so great an interference from neighbor
ing wave lengths as to make broadcasting on this basis
impossible. It has been found that interference is not
eliminated until ten wave lengths have been allowed to a
single broadcasting channel. Thus the available channels
are reduced to ninety-six, since both ends of the com
mercial broadcast band are included.

Commercial broadcasting in the United States and
Canada, therefore is confined to the use of ninety-six
channels. Six of these have been assigned entirely to
Canada. This reduces the number used in the United
State to ninety, and eleven of these ninety are shared with
Canada.

ALLOCATION OF STATIONS, FREQUENCIES
AND POWER

4. Federal Communications Commission. — Natu
rally, a very close control must be maintained over the
allocation of the right to use these radio channels which
have been described. In 1927, this control was vested in
the Federal Radio Commission, which later was absorbed
into the Federal Communications Commission which
today regulates broadcasting.

At the time the Federal Radio Commission was formed
there were more than 700 broadcasting stations in the
United States, and the designation of frequencies and
power followed no centralized control or planned pat
tern. Interference between stations was common, result-

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 5

ing in overlapping of programs or whistling which made
satisfactory reception a rare, rather than a customary,
phenomenon.

The Federal Radio Commission divided the country
into five general regions as follows :

ZONE 1

ZONE 2

ZONE 3

New York

Pennsylvania

Texas

Massachusetts

Ohio

North Carolina

New Jersey

Michigan

Georgia

Maryland

Kentucky

Alabama

Connecticut

Virginia

Tennessee

Porto Rico

West Virginia

Oklahoma

Maine

Louisiana

Rhode Island

Mississippi

District of Columbia

Arkansas

New Hampshire

South Carolina

Vermont

Florida

Delaware

Virgin Islands

ZONE 4

Illinois

Missouri

Indiana

Wisconsin

Minnesota

Iowa

Kansas

Nebraska

South Dakota

North Dakota

ZONE 5

California

Washington

Colorado

Oregon

Montana

Utah

Idaho

Arizona

New Mexico

Hawaii

Wyoming

Nevada

Alaska

5. Purpose of Commission. — The Act under which the
Federal Radio Commission was formed had as its declared
purpose, "That the people of all the zones are entitled to
equality of radio broadcasting service both of trans
mission and reception."

6 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

The Federal Radio Commission proceeded to act along
the lines that the law prescribed. These methods are as
follows :

1. The licensing authority shall, as nearly as possible,
make and maintain an equal allocation of broadcasting
licenses, of bands of frequency or wave lengths, of
periods of time for operation, and of station power to
each of said zones when and in so far as there are appli
cations therefor; and

2. Shall make a fair and equitable allocation of licenses,
wave lengths, time for operation, and station power to
each of the States, the District of Columbia, the Terri
tories, and possessions of the United States within each
zone, according to population.

6. Method of Allocation of Broadcasting Licenses.

The story of the manner in which the present broadcasting
structure was worked out and the allocations were made
is given in the annual report of the Federal Radio Com
mission for 1928 as follows :

During the months of July and August, 1928, the
commission, with the assistance of its engineering divi
sion, was endeavoring to work out an allocation of
broadcasting stations with respect to frequency, power,
and hours of operation. The best engineering advice
in the country was sought and received. Several dif
ferent plans were crystallized complete in every detail
only to fail to meet the approval of the requisite
majority of the commission. Finally, however, an
allocation was achieved which met with approval.

The first step toward putting the new allocation into
effect was the issuance of General Order No. 40, the
terms of which were agreed upon only after a majority
of the commission had found themselves in agreement
on the application of its terms to the existing stations.
This order was issued on August 30, 1928. It repre
sented a combination of the plans which had been
suggested to the commission from time to time, to
gether with certain concessions which had to be made
to the practical necessities of the situation because of
the existing number and character of the broadcasting
stations. Forty channels were set apart for stations of
sufficient power on cleared channels to give good service

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 7

to rural and remote listeners. These channels were
allocated equally, eight to each zone. This type of
service corresponds to the type which was called
"national" in the plans submitted to the commission by
expert engineers in April. Thirty-five channels were
set aside for stations of power not to exceed 1,000 watts,
to be allocated equally among the zones, each channel
to be used — with certain exceptions — by not less than
two nor more than three stations. Six channels were
set aside for use in all five zones by stations of 100
watts or more; five channels were set aside for use in all
five zones by stations having not to exceed 1,000 watts;
four channels were set aside for use by stations of 5 kilo
watts in two or more zones. By a supplementary
General Order No. 42 the power of stations on the
forty cleared channels was limited to 25 kilowatts,
with provision for the use of 50 kilowatts during the
next license period in order to determine what interfer
ence, if any, would result.

A majority of the commission believes that this plan is
the best which could be devised with due regard to exist
ing conditions. It provides, or at least makes possible,
excellent radio reception on 80 per cent of the channels.
The few other channels will suffer from overlapping or
heterodyne* interference except in a small area close
to each station.

The general principles laid down in this basic alloca
tion of frequencies and power have been maintained ever
since, subject, of course, to modifications made possible by
improvement in broadcasting equipment and in receiving
sets.

Examples of how these principles work out in practice
are shown by the following samples of each type of alloca
tion.

7. Cleared National Channels. — In all cases where a
cleared national channel is allotted to a station, no other
station in the United States or Canada may broadcast on

*Heterodyning is the type of interference causing a whistle or
buzzing sound resulting when frequencies are too close together.

8 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

the same frequencies. Examples of stations to which
cleared national channels have been allocated are the
following :

650 kilocycles (WSM) Nashville, Tennessee, 50,000 watts
720 kilocycles (WGN) Chicago, Illinois, 50,000 watts
1170 kilocycles (WCAU) Philadelphia, Pa., 50,000 watts

8. Regional Channels. — In many cases, the same
frequencies and powers are allotted to a number of sta
tions. In such cases, however, the geographical locations
of the stations are widely separated. The locations of
the following four stations all of which broadcast on fre
quencies of 590 kilocycles are examples:

Massachusetts— Boston (WEEI) 1000 watts

Michigan— Kalamazoo (WKZO) 1000 watts

Nebraska— Omaha (WOW) 1000 watts

Washington — Spokane (KHQ) . . Night . . 1000 watts

Day 2000 watts

9. Local Channels. — To local channels are assigned
stations of limited range and low power which will give
ample coverage of the immediate community in which they
are located, but which will not cause the signal to go so far
as to interfere with other stations assigned the same fre
quency. An example of such assignments of local stations
to a single frequency is found at the 1310 kilocycle channel.
Forty-five stations are broadcasting on this one channel,
though not all of them broadcast simultaneously. In
cases where there are two stations in one city, each
assigned the same frequency, the broadcasting time is
shared between the two stations. This sharing is worked
out on an equitable basis so that each station will have
certain hours when it is on the air every day, and certain
other hours which the two use on alternating days.

10. Day and Night Power. — In the following list of
stations it will be noticed that many stations have more
power in the day than at night. This adjustment is made

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 9

where it is found that the night signal, with the daytime
power, carries so far as to interfere with one or more other
stations broadcasting on the same frequency. In such
cases, the solution lies in cutting down the allowed power
at night.

The following are the stations assigned to the 1310
channel :

WATTS

Alabama— Birmingham (WSGN)— Days 250

Nights 100

Arizona — Jerome (KCRJ) 100

California — Sacramento (KFBK) 100

District of Columbia — Washington (WOL) 100

Florida— Tallahassee (WTAL) 100

Illinois— Joliet (WCLS) 100

Indiana— Elkhart (WRTC)— Days 100

Nights 50

Indiana — Muncie (WLBC) 50

Indiana— Terre Haute (WBOW) 100

Iowa— Boone (KFGQ) 100

Kentucky— Ashland (WMCI) 100

Louisiana — Shreveport (KRMD) 100

Massachusetts — New Bedford (WNBH) — Days . . 250

Nights 100

Michigan— Flint (WFDF) 100

Michigan — Marquette (WBEO) 100

Missouri— Springfield (KGBX) 100

Montana — Kalispell (KDEZ) 100

Montana— Wolf Point (KGCX)— Days 250

Nights 100

Nebraska— Kearney (KGFW) 100

New Hampshire— Laconia (WLNH) 100

New Mexico — Santa Fe (KIUJ) 100

New York— Auburn (WMBO) 100

New York — Buffalo (WEBR) — Days 250

Nights 100

New York— Plattsburg (WMFF) 100

North Carolina— Winston Salem (WSJS) 100

Oklahoma— Oklahoma City (KFXB)— Days 250

Nights . . 100

Oregon— Medford (KMED)— Days 250

Nights 100

Pennsylvania— Altoona (WFBG) 100

Pennsylvania— Grove City (WSAJ) 100

Pennsylvania — Johnstown (WJAC) 100

Pennsylvania— Philadelphia (WHAT) 100

10 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART I

Pennsylvania— Reading (WRAW) 100

Pennsylvania— Wilkes-Barre (WERE) 100

Tennessee— Jackson (WTJS)— Days 250

Nights 100

Tennessee— Knoxville (WROL)— Days 250

Nights 100

Texas— Dublin (KFPL) 100

Texas— El Paso (KTSM) 100

Texas— El Paso (WDAH) 100

Texas— Houston (KTLC) 100

Texas — Lubbock (KFYO) — Days 250

Nights 100

Virginia— Newport News (WGH)— Days 250

Nights 100

Washington— Aberdeen (KXRO) 100

Washington— Yakima (KIT)— Days 250

Nights 100

Alaska— Juneau (KINY) 100

11. Wide Service Achieved. — The general principles
established by the Federal Radio Commission for the
allocation of frequencies have permitted a wide degree of
flexibility in the granting of licenses for broadcasting and
the determining of the amount of power these stations
may use. As a consequence, the ends sought by the
original legislation, requiring regular and ample broad
casting service to all parts of the country, have been
achieved. For several years the number of broadcasting
stations in the United States has not varied to any great
extent, remaining close to 600, about 400 of which are
licensed to sell time on the air.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF NETWORKS

12. Evolution of Radio. — Radio broadcasting has
passed through many of the stages of evolution common to
other human activities. When the movies were invented
the public flocked to see a moving picture of anything
— pictures of people walking, of horses and carriages in
motion, of trees waving — anything, so long as it moved
and demonstrated this new wonder of photography.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 11

The first automobiles had a very similar beginning.
The fact that they ran at all was regarded as close to a
miracle, and people rode in an automobile just to be able
to say they'd ridden in one, with no particular idea of going
anywhere. More recently the airplane has duplicated the
evolution of the automobile very closely.

When the broadcasting of sounds, rather than mere
dots and dashes, first emerged, the fact alone that it
could be done was a source of eager wonder. We passed
through the exciting period when use was made of every
sort of a home-made device ingenious youngsters or earn
est oldsters could contrive to act as a receiver. Broad
casting equipment, also, was nearly as primitive and
unpredictable.

After the first wonder caused by radio, when almost
any sound that could be identified was welcomed with
ecstasy by straining ear-phone listeners, three develop
ments got under way simultaneously. One was the natural
improvement of broadcasting equipment. Another was
the rapid designing, manufacturing and selling of radio
sets, first the battery operated sets and later those that
used house current. The third was the development of
radio programs.

For a time anybody would gladly broadcast upon invi
tation, without thought of asking pay. But this couldn't
last long, and suddently the operators of radio stations,
already troubled over the fact that it cost money to run a
station which had no earning power, found in addition it
would be necessary to pay for the programs they broadcast.

13. Beginning of Radio Advertising. — Out of the

situation just described came the idea of selling radio
time to advertisers for the presentation of programs that
would attract an audience to which the advertiser might
address his sales message. Naturally there was no basis
for estimating the size of the audience, so charges were

12 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

based on the station owners' estimate of what the adver
tiser was willing to pay.

The first broadcasts that advertisers sponsored were
often straight "good- will" programs. The response to
them was heart-warming and gave conclusive evidence
that a great new advertising medium had been created.

14. Securing of Talent Costly. — Radio stations began
operating on a continuous basis from early morning until
late at night, to provide broadcasting hours to sell. This
brought about a need for a great deal of radio talent to
keep the program continuous, whether the time was paid
for by advertisers or not. And, with the exception of a
few of the largest metropolitan centers, this condition soon
disclosed that there was nowhere near enough worth-
listening-to-talent to supply all the stations all the time.
Phonograph records were tried for a time, but they never
were popular and soon a station that broadcast a great
many periods of phonograph records lost caste in its com
munity. As a consequence, there was a strong induce
ment for stations to get together with other stations in
other cities to share each other's broadcasting talent.

At the same time, advertisers who had used radio
successfully wanted to expand their broadcasting activities.
At first this required originating a program on each station
used, which was costly and produced an unsatisfactory
difference in quality of the broadcasting. There was,
therefore, every reason for the advertiser to wish to have
stations linked together for the simultaneous broadcasting
of their programs from a single originating source.

15. National Broadcasting System. — Out of the
condition described grew commercial chain broadcasting.
The first permanent network was established in 1926, after
a two-year experimental period, and named the National
Broadcasting Company. It was formed by three of the
largest radio manufacturers and merchandisers in the

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 13

world, the General Electric Company, the Westinghouse
Electric and Manufacturing Company, and the Radio
Corporation of America. Nine years later, the networks,
basic and supplementary, of the National Broadcasting
Company, were as follows:

NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY SYSTEM

BASIC RED NETWORK

New York (WEAF)
Boston (WEEI)
Hartford (WTCI)
Providence (WJAR)
Worcester (WTAG)
Portland (WCSH)
Philadelphia (KYW)
Baltimore (WFBR)
Washington (WRC)
Schenectady (WGY)
Buffalo (WBEN)
Pittsburgh (WCAE)
Cleveland (WTAM)
Detroit (WWJ)
Dayton (WHIG)
Cincinnati (WSAI)
Chicago (WMAQ)
St. Louis (KSD)
Des Moines (WHO)
Omaha (WOW)
Kansas City (WDAF)

BASIC BLUE NETWORK
New York (WJZ)
Boston (WBZ)
Springfield (WBZA)
Philadelphia(WFIL)
Baltimore (WBAL)
Washington (WMAL)
Syracuse (WSYR)
Rochester (WHAM)
Pittsburgh (KDKA)
Cleveland (WGAR)
Detroit (WXYZ)
Cincinnati (WCKY)
Chicago (WENR-WLS)
St. Louis (KWK)
Cedar Rapids— Waterloo (WMT)
Des Moines (KSO)
Omaha— Council Bluffs (KOIL)
Kansas City (WREN)

SUPPLEMENTARY GROUPS

CANADIAN GROUP
Toronto (CRCT)
Montreal (CFCF)

SOUTHEASTERN GROUP
Richmond (WRVA)
Norfolk (WTAR)
Raleigh (WPTF)
Charlotte (WSOC)
Asheville (WWNC)
Columbia (WIS)
Jacksonville (WJAX)
Tampa (WFLA-WSUN)
Miami (WIOD)

SOUTHWESTERN GROUP
Tulsa (KVOO)
Oklahoma City (WKY)
Dallas-Fort Worth (WFAA-WBAP)
Houston (KPRC)
San Antonio (WOAI)
Shreveport (KTBS)
Hot Springs (KTHS)

NORTHWESTERN GROUP
Milwaukee (WTMJ)
Madison (WIBA)
Minneapolis-St, Paul (KSTP)
Duluth-Superior (WEBC)
Fargo (WDAY)
Bismarck (KFYR)

14 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

SUPPLEMENTARY GROUPS

(Continued)

SOUTHCENTRAL GROUP MOUNTAIN GROUP

Louisville (WAVE) Denver (KOA)

Nashville (WSM) Salt Lake City (KDYL)

Memphis (WMC)

Atlanta (WSB)

Birmingham (WAPI)

Jackson (WJDX)

New Orleans (WSMB)

PACIFIC COAST NETWORK AND
SUPPLEMENTARY GROUPS

BASIC PACIFIC COAST PACIFIC SUPPLEMENTARY

NETWORK GROUP

San Francisco (KPO) San Diego (KFSD)

Los Angeles (KFI) Phoenix (KTAR)
Portland (KGW)

Seattle (KOMO) NORTH MOUNTAIN GROUP

Spokane (KHQ) Butte (KGIR)

Billings (KGHL)

SPECIAL HAWAIIAN SERVICE
Honolulu (KGU)

16. Columbia Broadcasting System. — In the fall of
1927 the Columbia Broadcasting System established a
network directly competitive with the two networks of
the National Broadcasting Company. It grew very
rapidly, for by that time the advantages of chain broad
casting were apparent to advertisers and stations alike,
there was a need for a greater amount of desirable network
time, and stations not on the National Broadcasting
Company's networks felt a need for better programs on 'a
continuous basis. After nine years, the basic and supple
mentary networks of the Columbia Broadcasting System
were as follows:

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 15

COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM

SOUTHEASTERN
GROUP

BASIC NETWORK

Akron (WADC)
Albany (WOKO)
Baltimore (WCAO)
Boston (WNAC)
Buffalo (WGR-WKBW)
Chicago (WBBM)
Cincinnati (WKRC)
Cleveland (WHK)
Des Moines (KRNT)
Detroit-Windsor (CKLW)
Hartford (WDRC)
Indianapolis (WFBM)
Kansas City (KMBC)
Louisville (WHAS)
New York (WABC)
Omaha-Lincoln (KFAB)
Philadelphia (WCAU)
Pittsburgh (WJAS)
Providence (WEAN)
St. Louis (KMOX)
Syracuse (WFBL)
Toledo (WSPD)
Washington (WJSV)

BASIC SUPPLEMENTARY
GROUP

Atlantic City (WPG)
Bangor (WJBZ)
Bridgeport (WICC)
Columbus (WBNS)
Dayton (WSMK)
Elmira (WESG)
Fort Wayne (WO WO)
Harrisburg (WHP)
Manchester (WFEA)
Peoria (WMBD)
Rochester (WHEC)
South Bend (WSBT)
Springfield (WMAS)
Utica (WIBX)
Wheeling (WWVA)
Worcester (WORC)
Youngstown (WKBN)

Charlotte (WBT)
Durham (WDNC)
Greensboro (WBIG)
Richmond (WMGB)
Roanoke (WDRJ)
Savannah (WTOC)
Winston- Salem (WSJS)

FLORIDA GROUP

Jacksonville (WMBR)
Miami (WGAM)
Orlando (WDBO)
Tampa (WDAE)

NORTHWESTERN
GROUP

Davenport (WOO)

Milwaukee (WISN)
Minneapolis (WCCO)
Sioux City (KSCJ)
Yankton (WNAX)

CANADIAN GROUP

Montreal (CKAC)
Toronto (CFRB)

SOUTHWESTERN
GROUP

Dallas (KRLD)
Houston (KTRH)
Little Rock (KLRA)
Oklahoma City (KOMA)
San Antonio (KTSA)
Shreveport (KWKH)
Topeka (WIBW)
Tulsa (KTUL)
WACO (WACO)
Wichita (KFH)
Wichita Falls (KGKO)

16 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM

(Continued)

SOUTHCENTKAL MOUNTAIN GROUP

GROUP Colorado Springs (KVOR)

Atlanta (WGST) ReTfKOH^

Birmingham (WBRC) J™°T V £, n-^r ^

Chattanooga (WOOD) Salt Lake Clt^ (KSL)

Knoxville (WNOX)

Memphis (WREC) PACIFIC COAST GROUP

Mobile (WALA) Los Angeles (KHJ)

Montgomery (WSFA) Portland (KOIN)

Nashville (WLAC) San Diego (KGB)

New Orleans (WDSU) San Francisco (KFRC)

Pensacola (WCOA) Seattle-Tacoma (KOL-

KVI)
Spokane (KFPY)

HONOLULU, HAWAII (KGMB)

17. Additional Networks. — A number of attempts
have been made, since the formation of the Columbia
Broadcasting System, to form an additional network of
national dimensions independent of the National and the
Columbia systems. These have not been very successful
to date, though the nucleus for another such network is
in existence in the form of the Mutual Network composed
of WOR, Newark; WLW, Cincinnati; WGN, Chicago;
and CKLW, Windsor. Mutual plans to add many stations.

The Mutual Broadcasting System, as this group of
stations is called, operates on a much less formal basis
than the others, so far as chain broadcasting is concerned.
Where each basic group of the National and Columbia
network is a unit, the Mutual system actually comprises
four individual stations, operating independently, drawing
on each other for sustaining programs, and selling time
independently. When the same time is clear on all sta
tions, it may be sold on a chain basis. Mutual is now going
National, absorbing Don Lee system and other stations.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING. PART 1 17

In addition to these major groups of a national charac
ter there are many regional groups which offer the same
advantages of network broadcasting to the manufacturer
whose distribution is concentrated within a designated
region. Some of these regional groups are affiliated with
the national networks, others are independent. Follow
ing are examples of both kinds :

Don Lee Broadcasting System
Michigan Radio Network
Southwest Broadcasting System
Yankee Network

Of all the commercial broadcasting stations in the
United States, about two-thirds are affiliated with chains
in one way or another. That is, they are owned by chains,
are regular members of basic groups, members of supple
mentary groups, or affiliated with a group on an occasional
basis. The other commercial stations are individual units.
Chains are constantly adding and changing stations.

THE RADIO AUDIENCE

18. Size of Audience. — The radio audience to which
the advertiser's message is addressed numbers upward of
tens of millions. Yet the radio program, and the advertis
ing message it contains, should be directed specifically at
the three or four people, grouped around the set in their
living room, who comprise the average American family.

The human mind has a singular inability to visualize
the significance of large figures. In normal conversation
we talk of millions but really we have no conception of
what an enormous figure a million is. Think of it this way.
A good sized moving picture theater seats two thousand
people; five hundred of these theaters would be needed to
seat an audience of a million people. But to accommo
date the available radio audience more than forty thousand
such theaters would be needed.

5.%B-8

POPULATION AND RADIO OWNERSHIP IN THE
UNITED STATES

Population

Families

Radio
Homes

Per Cent, of
Families
Owning
Radios

Alabama
Arizona .....

2,710,000
457,000

602,200
111,500

216,979
53,518

36.0

48.0

Arkansas

1,876,000

446,700

122,989

27.5

California
Colorado

6,158,000
1,056,000

1,759,400

270,800

1,369,365
186,598

77.8
68.9

Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois

1,655,000
242,000
497,000
1,575,000
2,911,000
448,000
7,876,000

403,700
60,500
127,400
403,800
661,600
109,300
2,019,500

339,845
45,898
121,787
200,674
260,011
74,284
1,647,283

84.2
75.9
95.6
49.7
39.3
68.0
81.6

Indiana
Iowa

3,304,000
2,485,000

869,500
637,200

597,696

459,988

68.7
72.2

Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine

1,905,000
2,657,000
2,166,000
804,000

488,500
617,900
503,700
201,000

319,714
300,877
258,420
136,840

65.4
48.7
51.3
68.1

Maryland
Massachusetts . . .
Michigan

1,671,000
4,335,000
5,093,000

397,900
1,057,300
1,242,200

318,877
903,467
919,946

80.1
85.5
74.1

Minnesota

2,602,000

619,500

441,164

71.2

Mississippi

2,057 000

478,400

113,989

23.8

Missouri

3,678 000

943,300

649,040

68.8

M^ontana

538 000

137,900

86,011

62.4

Nebraska

1,395,000

348,700

244,503

70.1

Nevada

94000

26,900

16,370

60.9

New Hampshire . . .
New Jersey ....
New Mexico ....
New York
North Carolina . . .
North Dakota . . .
Ohio

470,000
4,231,000
437,000
13,059,000
3,301,000
688,000
6,836,000

120,500
1,032,000
101,600
3,264,700
673,700
146,400
1,752,800

94,186
895,884
43,394
2,928,870
266.924
84,138
1,336,547

78.2
86.8
42.7
89.7
39.6
57.5
763

Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania ....
Rhode Island ....
South Carolina . . .
South Dakota . . .
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont

2,475,000
990,000
9,826,000
705,000
1,750,000
705,000
2,676,000
6,073,000
520,000
361,000

589,300
275,000
2,285,100
171,900
372,300
164,000
622,300
1,445,900
118,200
90,300

291,595
211,103
1,913,349
148,961
142,706
103,342
312,491
733,128
84,293
61,274

49.5
76.8
83.7
86.7
38.3
63.0
50.2
50.7
71.3
67.9

Virginia
Washington ....
West Virginia . . .
Wisconsin
Wyoming

2,446,000
1,608,000
1,786,000
3,005,000
232,000

531,700
434,600
388,300
732,900
59,500

301,894
333,236
239,227
489,602
33,522

56.8
76.7
61.6
66.8
56.3

Total

126,425,000

30,919,300

21,455,799

69.4

RADIO BKOADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 19

There is no way to determine exactly how many
people in this country can or do listen to radio broadcast
ing, but the figure 80,000,000 is a reasonable estimate,
arrived at by the simple expedient of multiplying the
number of homes equipped with radio sets by the size of
the average American family. That gives us twenty
million times four, in round figures. The most accurate
data obtainable on set ownership now places the number of
radio homes at 21,455,799.

That figure represents almost three quarters of all
the homes in the United States, and probably almost one
hundred per cent of the homes where circumstances permit
ownership and use of radio sets. The air contains too
much of interest for any one who could have a radio set to
ignore it, and it may be expected that set ownership will
increase in close relation to population increase.

19. Location of Audience. — The figure of total
families owning radio sets is impressive, but it is of only
incidental importance to the broadcast advertiser. He
wants to know how many of these potential listeners are
contained within his area of distribution. Therefore, the
individual figures in the accompanying tabulation of
Population and Radio Ownership are much more useful
than the grand totals at the bottom. The figures were
compiled by McGraw-Hill and Columbia Broadcasting
System.

To be completely useful to the advertiser these figures
need to be broken down still further — into county units.
Family ownership of sets, by counties, is readily available
to any broadcaster upon application to his advertising
agency, his radio station, or any of the networks. The
figures are not given here, for there are more than three
thousand counties in the United States, but typical
counties will be referred to later, sufficiently comprehen
sive for the purpose of this text.

20 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

20. Measuring the Audience. — Data obtained in the
manner described gives the physical size of the potential
audience in practically any way the advertiser wants to
measure it. He can measure the audience by complete
national networks with all supplementary stations in
cluded, or by individual stations. He can measure it by
political boundaries such as state and county lines, or by
sales territories. However, if he measures it in accor
dance with his distribution, he is able to relate his broad
casting costs to his sales volume, and with some accuracy
relate changes in his sales volume to his complete adver
tising program even when it includes radio.

But its size and location are only two interesting
things about the available radio audience. Most impor
tant to the broadcaster is its character. Obviously, no
group of Americans as large as this could fail to include
rich and poor, thrifty and careless, wise and foolish.
Generalizing about them is dangerous, yet they have
revealed certain characteristics that deserve consideration.

21. Response of Radio Audience. — The income of
the average radio family is higher than that of the average
for all families. Many surveys agree on these findings.

These families show a high degree of responsiveness
to radio advertising. The possession of radio-advertised
merchandise in radio homes is much greater than in non-
radio homes of similar income levels. If a parallel cover
age of both types of homes by other mediums used by the
advertiser is assumed, the difference in sales volume to
radio homes must be credited to the influence of radio
advertising. So it is found that the radio audience is
composed of persons who respond to advertising and have
a higher-than-average purchasing power. This very
responsiveness of the radio audience is a quality that
should be treated with the greatest respect and kept in
mind at all times in developing commercial broadcasts.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 21

22. Appeal to Emotions. — The basic appeal of radio
is to the emotions. Its programs bring laughter, excite
ment, pathos, songs and stories of love and longing into the
living room. The effectiveness of its appeal to the
emotions is enhanced by the fact that the listener is at
home, freed of the emotional restraints of public contact.
Now this emotionalism can work two ways, and has at
many times.

For example, one Sunday evening Alexander Woolcott
described the work of the Seeing Eye — that devoted group
which trains German shepherd dogs to act as guides for
blind people. Gently, understandingly, skilfully he gave
the radio audience a picture of what these dogs did, and
how wonderfully they bring mobility and security into
the lives of the blind. He explained that the organiza
tion needed funds to continue its work, and asked those
who felt like contributing to do so. As a result, thousands
of dollars poured in and the Seeing Eye was helped tre
mendously in its fine work.

This is but one of almost innumerable instances that
might be cited of the quick and generous response of the
radio audience. The point is this. In the main, people
are kind and helpful. And they recognize and appreciate
the same quality in others.

23. When Audience Disapproves. — The appeal to
the emotions may also work in a direction opposite to
that just described. An audience is quick to detect and
resent what it considers selfishness; and it reacts to that
with emotions thoroughly aroused.

Many broadcasters have exceeded the bounds of good
taste and good judgment in the programs they have offered
for children. In the eyes of the radio audience, their
eagerness to win child listeners and child supporters has
led them to use program material of an undesirable
character. That has been interpreted, and rightly, as

22 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

selfishness. And the kind of selfishness that takes advan
tage of little children is the meanest of all. A wave of
public resentment swept across the country. As in so
many cases where emotions are aroused, it headed toward
emotional excesses. Reasonable measures did not con
tain the punitive element angry parents desired. And
tremendous impetus was given to movements to change the
whole broadcasting structure from a private, commercial
endeavor, to a public, government service.

That is not the American way of doing things, and
probably even those who fomented government ownership
would regret it after they got it, because of the devitaliz
ing effect it would have on programs, once their competi
tive character was removed. Fortunately for all con
cerned, advertisers themselves realized that their methods
were destroying their medium, and in general changed
their tactics, and thus removed the emotional stimulus
that was behind the movement for government ownership
and censorship.

In another way the radio audience has shown its dis
approval of what it conceives to be selfishness on the part
of the broadcast sponsor. That is its protest against long
commercial announcements. In a spirit of fairness, the
radio audience is willing to listen with interest and belief
to commercial announcements in radio programs, so long
as these announcements are truthful, well mannered, and
of a reasonable length. But it resents the high pressure of
bombastic exhortations, the bad sportsmanship of an
nouncements whose lengths indicate that the sponsor
regards the listener as his prey to whom he may talk as
long and as dully as he pleases.

This matter of announcements has been a source of
much public antagonism, and has encouraged those who
wish government censorship or government ownership
of radio.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 23

24. Judging the Audience. — The mistakes that radio
has made are caused by a misunderstanding of conditions
by broadcasters. Too often the broadcaster conceives
his audience to be a vast number of people quite like the
crowd in a theater. So he addresses his advertising mes
sage as though it were directed to a crowd. In reality his
audience is composed of one typical American family,
multiplied many times. That family is in the privacy
of its home, surrounded by all those personal things that
mean home. It is relaxed. It is free of the self-conscious
ness people have in public. It is, most emphatically, itself,
without pretense, front or sham.

The privilege of talking to these people in these sur
roundings and in this frame of mind is a great one. But
it must be used with the utmost taste and delicacy of
handling. When it is abused, the advertiser defeats his
own ends. What are these ends? Eventually, of course,
the sale of his product or service. But his immediate
objective must be that of creating a feeling of friendliness in
the family toward himself, and an understanding of the
function and merit of his product as it contributes to their
happiness and welfare. He should make the family he is
addressing feel that he has come before it, through
the medium of radio, in the spirit of helpfulness and service.
When he does that his audience responds and his broad
casting can be profitable. When, however, this family is
forced to put on its mask of defense against the outside
world; when its intelligence is belittled by misleading
statements; when its patience is taxed by lengthy dullness,
when, in short, the sponsor forgets the obligations of a
guest to his host, then his broadcasting is not only doomed
to failure, but it heaps ill-will upon him.

The radio audience is wonderfully responsive. But it
lives on a two-way street and it can go in either direction.

24 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

RADIO— AN ADVERTISING MEDIUM

25. Relation of Radio to Other Advertising Mediums.

Where does radio fit in the advertising scheme? This
question has been the cause of much acrimonious and ill-
informed debate. Is it comparable to the newspaper?
Or to magazines? Or both combined? Can it take the
place of either satisfactorily? Is it effective, used by itself,
or should its use be in combination with other forms of
advertising? All sorts of questions of this kind have been
raised, argued, even fought over. But the answer to most
of them is, "That depends."

Naturally the older mediums of advertising did not
welcome the intrusion of radio into the advertising field.
They considered it a competitor which would cut into their
volume. As a result there existed during the first ten
years of broadcast advertising a general unfriendliness
toward radio in many quarters.

In fact, the entrance of radio on the public scene caused
alarm and antagonism in many fields. The movies re
garded it with an unfriendly eye, seeing in radio an induce
ment to stay home and be entertained without cost. And
the stage quickly joined the movies in pained protest
when the practice of admitting persons to radio programs
proved so popular that whole theaters were employed for
this purpose. On top of the blow already given the stage
by the movies, this seemed likely to be a knock-out. Many
baseball and football teams refused to permit broadcasting
of their games, fearing it would keep their patrons at home
and they would play to empty stands.

Altogether, radio found itself a most unwelcome new
comer among long-established enterprises. But, as is
always the case in our country, the general public had the
last word. Newspapers which refused to list radio pro
grams were overwhelmed by angry protests from sub
scribers. The lists were reinstated.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 25

Many magazines put their feelings aside and looked at
radio advertising as a possible help to their standing and
circulation, and, to the considerable distress of others in
their field, used it successfully.

The screen has benefited by radio's marvelous technical
developments — and motion picture theaters have been
crowded by audiences that came to see on the screen their
favorite radio performers.

Sports broadcasts may have kept some persons at
home, but they stimulated the interest of fully as many
others to go to the games and see all these exciting things
they had hitherto obtained second hand through the radio.

So it is conceivable that radio, rather than taking away
from others, has not only gained a place for itself but has
contributed to the welfare of those who regarded it as a
potential or actual source of danger to their welfare.

26. Study of Radio as a Medium. — As soon as radio
demonstrated its fitness to be used as an advertising
medium it became the subject of careful study by advertis
ing men. Probably no form of advertising ever underwent
such sudden and searching scrutiny. It was surveyed
from almost every conceivable standpoint. Even the
federal government considered it, and made a great con
tribution to the general knowledge of the subject. For
in 1930, when the census was taken, it made a count of set
ownership in every county in the United States. That
census formed the basis from which much of later data has
been derived.

All this searching and questioning added to our knowl
edge of radio, but it also resulted in the discovery that facts
were hard to find. We could learn how many people
owned radios, but we couldn't learn when they used them,
who listened, and to whose program. So more surveys,
even more far reaching and detailed in character, were
undertaken; and while the evidence they have produced

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RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 27

may not be regarded as establishing facts with unerring
exactness, it has helped to compose a general picture of
definite value.

27. Determining Sales Results. — Sales results from
broadcast advertising have been difficult to determine.
So many variables act simultaneously in most instances
that it is difficult to form conclusions; and the reluctance
of manufacturers to make public their confidential sales
figures has made it necessary to seek a general rather than
a specific result.

Nevertheless, by a method called the coincidental
telephone survey, it has been possible to obtain specific
and reliable information as to when people listen, how
many listen, and what they prefer. The accompanying
table of Gross Expenditures for Network Radio by
Industries shows the dollar expenditure for radio adver
tisers over a period of years, and furnishes evidence of
the conviction of advertisers that radio broadcasting is an
effective and paying medium.

The coincidental telephone survey is made by having
trained telephone operators call residence numbers at
specified times during the day. A sufficient number of
calls is made to give a reliable sample of the community,
and from the answers obtained figures for the entire
community may be projected. These coincidental surveys
are made in all the cities served by the three major net
works, and are therefore reliable indicators of audience
data.

The telephone operator calls a home, and, upon receiv
ing an answer, asks whether there is a radio in the home,
whether it is turned on, and what program is being
received. A variation of this last question is to ask what
station is being listened to, or who is the sponsor of the
program turned on. It will readily be seen that tactf ulness
is needed to get any degree of accuracy.

28 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

One of the organizations doing this kind of survey work
is Clark-Hooper Incorporated. Data collected by this
organization from more than four hundred thousand tele
phone calls are plotted on the curve shown in Fig. 1,
which indicates the size of the listening audience by thirty-
minute intervals, throughout the broadcasting day from
eight in the morning until eleven-thirty at night. The

100

40-

20-

Percentage o! total sets turned on
8a.m. • 11.30 p.m.

800 | 9:00 1 10:00 1 11:00 1 12:00 1 1:00 I 2:00 | 3:00 | 4:00 | 5:00 | 6:00 | 7:00 I 8:00 | 9:00 1 10:00 1 11:00
8:30 9:30 10:30 11:30 12:30 1:30 2:30 3:30 4:30 5:30 6:30 7:30 8:30 9:30 10:30 11:30

FIG. 1

results are, general averages, as there are variations to a
considerable extent in one day as compared to another,
where special circumstances enter. If, for example, the
President of the United States made an important address
on a vital topic at any time of day or night, the audience
percentage at that time would shoot up to 60, 70 and even
above 80.

Other events, primarily of national news interest, have
a similar tendency to raise the audience level far above
normal. But, aside from these unusual occasions, the
chart may be considered an indication of the number of
people who listen at various times in the day.

Local conditions often tend to distort this general
picture also. For example, in the middle west the broad-

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 29

casting of market reports and weather forecasts during the
farmer's mid-day meal time would show a relatively high
audience percentage compared to the general figure. On
the other hand, the demands of farming which call for
early rising and therefore early bed-times, would show a
lower figure in the late evening hours. Any data and
figures here given are necessarily of a national or sectional
character, and the broadcaster who is considering a limited
territory or a single town must modify the conclusions he
reaches from these data, in order to take into account
any local conditions with which he must familiarize
himself.

Statistics showing how many people are listening to
their radio sets give only part of the information the
advertiser needs if he is to plan his effort intelligently. In
most communities the listener has the choice of three sta
tions to which he may listen at any given time, and in
many places he may have his choice of ten or more. This
raises the question of station popularity, and program
popularity. The Clark-Hooper survey, covering as it did
a six-months period, went carefully into this subject.
It revealed that the average number of sets tuned to any
one station or network was 9.1 per cent of all the sets con
tained within the area surveyed.

A device for mechanically measuring station coverage
has been tested in Boston. This clock-like instrument
when attached directly to the radio receiving apparatus
makes a continuous record of the times the radio is turned
on, when it is turned on, and the stations tuned in. So
far the use of this apparatus is experimental, but the
information derived from it will be of great value if
permission for its installation can be obtained from enough
owners of radios to enable the placing of a sufficient
number of the instruments in a given territory to furnish a
representative sample of likes of the radio owners of that
territory.

30 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

28. Radio Compared With Other Mediums. — May
9.1 per cent be considered satisfactory coverage, and a
satisfactory and effective delivery of the advertiser's
message, as compared with the actual performance, not
the potential performance, of other advertising mediums?
The best answer to that question is the record of what

180
140

100
80
60
40

19Z7 1928 I9Z9 1930 1931 I93Z 1933 1934
Years

FIG. 2

broadcast advertisers have done after surveying results.
And it should be kept in mind that advertisers do not
ordinarily tell in public what the results were, even though
they may have been so satisfactory as to exceed their most
optimistic hopes. In the chart shown in Fig. 2, the
Radio curve shows what has been invested for time and
talent in radio advertising during the period 1927-193Z
two years of prosperity and five years of depression.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 31

Other curves on the chart, show expenditures for adver
tising in other mediums during the same period, and these
curves indicate that the advertiser, looking over his results,
has been convinced that radio advertising is an effective
and economical medium.

It should be mentioned that the declining figures for
magazines and newspapers represent no loss in confidence
in these mediums on the part of the advertiser. They
disclose only the extent to which advertisers were forced
to reduce advertising budgets because of the times. The
really significant lines are those for the year 1933-34, when
the curves for magazines, newspapers and radio all turn
upward together, on a course that is nearly parallel.

This indicates that the advertiser has concluded that
radio has taken its place among primary advertising media,
that the coverage is satisfactory for the expenditure, and
that the effectiveness of the coverage, in sales results,
presents a return per dollar comparable to that of the
older forms of advertising.

29. Radio as Sole Medium. — Can radio be used in
place of newspapers or magazines? There are about as
many answers to that question as there are advertisers.
Each has his own area of distribution to consider, his
methods of selling, his competitive quality and price; and,
on top of that, the character of his merchandise and his
market.

Individual examples of all kinds may be used to prove
almost anything. For example, take the case of the manu
facturer of a drug product who tried magazines without
results. He turned to newspapers, again without results.
He tried radio, and sales shot up. Can credit for that be
laid to radio as an advertising medium, or to a brilliant
program that caught the listeners' fancy, in contrast with
newspaper and magazine copy that didn't click or that
merely put him in a class with others?

32 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

We can consider the manufacturer of cosmetics who
never used anything but radio, but nevertheless has made
a spectacular success. Again, others have been equally
successful who have never used radio at all. Then how
can we tell that the first manufacturer might not have
been even more successful with the same appropriation
devoted to mediums other than radio? How do we know
that those who have never used radio wouldn't have pro
gressed faster if they had done so? To all those questions
we can only answer "We don't know." Nobody knows, and
there isn't any way to find out. All we can say is that the
success advertisers have had in using any medium intelli
gently indicates they have invested their dollars to the
benefit of their business.

There is no way to eliminate from advertising the
uncertainty of judgment and the element of chance.
Experience and trial can reduce them. Available facts
may prove guides. But absolute certainty in advertising,
regardless of the medium used, is as unattainable as per
petual motion.

It is impossible to lay down any rules on when to use
and when not to use radio broadcasting. A glance at the
products and services successfully advertised on the air
shows that they cover approximately the same range as
advertising in publications. The same broadcasters who
use the networks in a spectacular way also use magazines
and newspapers as primary mediums.

An extreme example of successful use of radio, where it
might be expected that the printed word would be used
exclusively, is found in the case of a manufacturer of
office equipment and cost systems. It would hardly seem
feasible to sell filing cases, adding machines, typewriters
and such functional equipment through a medium whose
primary appeal is emotional. Yet it has been successfully
done; and it is not difficult to find a satisfactory reason
for this being true.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 33

Rarely does an advertisement make a direct sale, no
matter what the medium employed, except in the case of
the retail advertising of local stores in a community. The
opinions that lead to an action are not formed that way.
They build up gradually, being formed within a person's
mind by accepting or rejecting ideas from the mass of
opinion that surrounds each of us. The old slogan
"Nothing succeeds like success" epitomizes this thought.
For when everybody else acknowledges success, who are
you to question or deny it? By accepting common opin
ion your opinion conforms, and the actions you take are
then expressions of your opinion.

The testimonial, an old but one of the most effective
types of advertisements, is merely a demonstration of
success and the impressing of someone else's opinion on
your mind.

30. Creating Public Opinion. — Radio broadcasting
helps to create opinions in many minds, not necessarily
concrete and exact opinions, but general ideas. Good
broadcasting implants favorable ideas. Perhaps most
persons who have these ideas have no occasion to purchase
office equipment. Only a few do. But these few are
surrounded in their daily lives by the opinions of all with
whom they come in contact. A casual remark here, a
favorable comment there, comes within the possible
purchaser's hearing. It happens frequently, day after
day, and gradually the actual purchaser of office equipment
has, arrived at a favorable opinion himself. The effective
ness of radio, in this case, is exactly the effectiveness of
any other advertising medium — it stimulates conversa
tion and helps to mold opinion.

Often radio can influence opinion when used by itself;
but in the process of influencing the mind of a prospect,
it is conceivable that the task will be performed more
quickly and surely when additional forms of advertising

536B— 9

34 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

are used. Similarly, the job may be done by publications
— in time; but it may be done more certainly with the
addition of radio to the effort.

Radio broadcasting may therefore be considered as
having taken its place as a primary advertising medium,
capable often of carrying the entire advertising burden.
But many times, its effectiveness may be enhanced by
the additional use of the written word.

31. Use Based on Appropriation. — Where the appro
priation does not permit the use of more than one primary
medium, then the advertiser must make his choice. This
calls for a careful study of markets, distribution, competi
tion and all the other factors that advertising must con
sider.

The bare figures disclosed by such a survey may indi
cate which medium to use. If they do not, a study of the
territory to be covered may indicate the answer. If, for
example, it contains strong newspapers and second-rate
radio stations, then, surely, newspapers deserve first consid
eration. If the appropriation permits the use of newspaper
space of size and frequency believed capable of doing the
job, then obviously the money should be spent that way.
If it will not, and the experience of broadcasters shows
they have used broadcasting effectively, even on second-
rate stations in that community, then the appropriation
should be measured against the cost of broadcasting, to
determine whether the job can be done by that means.

Just as skilful use of small space in a newspaper may
attract more readers than bungling use of large space,
so may an interesting radio broadcast, packed into a small
time unit, be more productive than an ordinary effort over
a longer period. A question that can be answered only
by judgment and experience then comes up. With limited
appropriation, can the message be presented more effec
tively by the use of type and illustration, or by the use

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 35

of the human voice and the intimate emotional medium of
sound? There is no hard and fast answer — experience
must decide.

And the problem of a community or a limited territory
differs only in degree from that of a section of the country
or the whole country itself, except that in larger areas
you are certain that whether you use newspapers, maga
zines or radio, you have available strong advertising
mediums.

32. Distribution Controls Use. — Distribution may
rule out one type of medium, and then the choice rests
between the other two. Comparison of the costs of using
each, either for an ideal program or a medium program,
may indicate which to choose. But here again, the final
selection must rest on someone's judgment and experience.
In using radio, just as in using any other advertising
mediums, judgment and experience are indispenable ;
and these must be the result of intelligent study.

COVERAGE

33. Meaning of Coverage. — Coverage may be defined
as the area in which people can and do listen to programs
broadcast from a designated station. This area varies
considerably even for stations of the same power. It
also varies for daytime and nighttime broadcasting. And
there is a wide variation of signal strength within the
coverage area itself.

For several years, coverage was a mystery to every
body who had anything to do with radio. All the myster
ies have not been removed yet — may never be. But there
are now standards for measuring coverage which at least
furnish a guide.

The first attempt to indicate the geographical coverage
of a radio station was so simple that, if it had been accu-

36 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

rate, it would have saved many years of hard work and
many thousands of dollars to the country's radio stations.
It consisted of drawing a circle with a radius of 100 miles
around the station. And that was the coverage map.
Unfortunately this was not a true picture, and another
method of determining coverage had to be devised.

34. Coverage Indicated by Mail Response. — From
the very start of broadcasting, mail poured into the sta
tions from listeners. Obviously this proved that the writer
had heard the station. So maps were spotted to show
where the mail came from and the closeness of the spots
indicated the degree of coverage intensity. For example,
in the area immediately surrounding the station, the dots
would be so numerous and so close together that they
presented a practically uniform surface. As the distance
from the station increased, these dots became more widely
separated. This graduation indicated that there was a
need to differentiate between types of coverage, so the
practice was started of designating primary, secondary and
even lower grades of coverage areas, according to the
density of dots.

This was undoubtedly a real advance in studying sta
tion coverage, but there was one variable factor that made
accurate calculation of a station's value practically impos
sible. The standard which determined the primary area
of one station might be, and usually was, entirely different
from the standard used by another. Where two stations
of comparable power were located in the same community,
it is obvious that there was every inducement to make the
standard denning primary area increasingly liberal for
competitive purposes. So in many cases the mail-response
method of determining coverage provided information no
more valuable than the hundred-mile circles. Neverthe
less, mail response, intelligently and conscientiously
evaluated, is still employed as a method of determining

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 37

station coverage, or of supplementing other methods of
determining coverage.

35. Signal Strength Measurements. — The Federal
Radio Commission investigated the coverage question
from an engineering standpoint. With the average per
formance of commercial receiving sets known, the Com
mission measured the amount of energy at the point of
reception necessary to give satisfactory service. In the
course of these experiments it found that the noise-level
of the point of reception had a distinct influence on the
amount of energy required to produce a satisfactory signal
for regular listening. This led to the establishing of
general strength standards related to the average noise
level of urban, suburban and rural communities. These
standards called, respectively, for 10, 2, and .5 millivolts-
per-meter, which was the measuring unit employed.

Several engineering firms started making these signal
strength measurements with portable equipment in auto
mobiles. The results obtained were the most specific
indications of coverage yet revealed, and furnished a
stable basis for all stations to use. As a consequence, the
signal-strength method of measuring coverage soon became
general practice, and most stations have employed it.

The signal strength must be measured for daytime
coverage and nighttime coverage, as there is a distinct
difference in the two. And it must be taken over a period
of time sufficiently extended to show an average for any
given listening point, to determine the regularity or irregu
larity of reception.

36. Primary and Secondary Coverage. — The area
where a station may always be heard, regardless of varia
tions, with complete satisfaction to the listener, is the
primary coverage or primary service area. The area where
the station may be heard regularly, but with varying

38 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

intensity that might make reception, upon infrequent
occasions, less than completely satisfactory, is the secon
dary coverage or service area.

These two areas may be considered to include the
broadcaster's available audience, where his advertising
message may be delivered clearly, regularly and effectively
to persons who listen to the station habitually. The
primary and secondary coverage areas for Station WABC
are illustrated in the map, Fig. 3. This map is typical of
those used for other cities.

37. Station Popularity. — Coverage is not the whole
story, so far as the advertiser is concerned. He is also
interested vitally in the standing of the station with the
listeners within its area. For that, to a considerable
extent, determines the circulation his message will receive.
When he knows the relative standing of several stations
serving a given community, he is in a position to select
the one that serves his purpose best. Unfortunately
there is no engineering method, such as the signal-strength
test, to determine a station's popularity. We are again
forced back to judgment and opinions.

The popularity of any station is controlled by the
programs it broadcasts. Listeners quickly develop the
habit of turning to certain stations and avoiding other
stations, according to their liking of the programs offered.
In practice, this tends to direct listener preference to chain
stations, because these stations carry the fine programs
sponsored by national advertisers and because time not
sold for commercial use can be filled by sustaining programs
of real merit originated at a point where first-class talent
of a wide variety is always available.

But this does not mean that the independent station,
without chain connections, must lose out in competition
for the audience. With ingenuity, initiative, and imagina
tion, the program director of an independent station can

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 39

broadcast so much of real local interest and timeliness,
combined with musical and other entertainment derived
from electrical transcription services which use the same
artists as the networks use, that he can build a loyal and
regular following for his station just as large and just as
valuable to the advertiser as the following of the larger
stations. He makes up with brains and energy what he
lacks in money and abundance of entertainment resources.

38. Telephone Survey. — There are several ways of
arriving at a reasonably accurate estimate of the relative
popularity of various stations in a community. One is
the coincidental telephone survey, conducted over a period
of several days in order that program schedules may aver
age out. Another is to obtain the opinion of many people
living in the community. A manufacturer, for example,
may write to all his retail outlets within the area, asking
their preferences in stations. But the results must always
be judged with the knowledge that a retailer is likely to
consider the biggest the best. On the other hand, much
of the value of advertising lies in the enthusiasm it stimu
lates in dealers, and use of the station elected by a poll of
dealers may sometimes prove to be the best.

Certainly the program schedules of all stations under
consideration should be carefully studied; for, regardless
of power, frequency or any other factor, it is program
character that determines the audience within a station's
coverage area. Careful attention to this item will often
enable the advertiser to broadcast effectively at a great
saving in cost. He may find, for example, that in a city
containing a 50,000-watt station and a 500-watt station,
the latter is the more popular. There are such cases.
If the coverage area of the 500-watt station includes the
territory in which he wishes to advertise, obviously he can
save a very considerable sum by using it. Many adver
tisers are finding local, or spot broadcasting profitable.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1

s~s?

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 1 41

On the other hand, take the case of an organization
that sells within an arbitrary political boundary, such as a
city limit. Assume that all sales are concentrated within
that area, and coverage outside the area is valueless to the
advertiser. This circumstance by no means indicates the
use of a low powered station. The audience for the high-
powered station within the geographical limits may be so
many times larger than the audience of the low powered
station that the large station gives a greater dollar value
regardless of waste circulation.

Conditions like these indicate the importance of study
ing the relative standing of stations in the territory under
consideration. Specific examples cannot be given because
these standings are continually changing.

39. Coverage Data Available.— Radio stations now
furnish to advertisers much information about their
coverage and the character of the area they serve. Cover
age is usually shown in terms of counties and maps are
furnished on which counties within the primary area are
shown in one color, and those in the secondary area another
color.

Data on set ownership, automobiles, incomes, tele
phones and other factors is tabulated for the use of the
advertiser to help him select his broadcasting points, and
the station to use, and to give him a basis of deciding
whether to use newspapers instead of radio, or vice versa,
where the appropriation does not permit the use of both.
A typical radio station data tabulation is given in Fig. 4.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING

Serial 3360A (PART 1) Edition 1

Review Questions

NOTE These Review Questions are given merely that you may test yourself

on your general knowledge cf the points discussed in this lesson. If there is any
question that you are unable to answer, this indicates that you have missed the
point involved and should read the text again. You can readily find the answers
to all of these questions in the text.

(1) Why must radio broadcast advertising be of an
essentially high order?

(2) About how many radio-owning families are
there in the United States?

(3) What is the range in kilocycles of the broadcast
band available for advertisers in the United
States and Canada? And how many actual
channels does this permit?

(4) Describe the difference between a cleared channel
and a regular or local channel.

(5) What led to the development of chain networks
and what are the three main networks?

(6) What led to the use of radio for advertising and
why must the commercial side of broadcasting be
subordinated to the programs given?

(7) Describe several methods of measuring the radio
audience.

(8) Tell why you consider that radio has taken its
place as an advertising medium.

(9) What are some of the methods used to estimate
radio coverage?

(10) How can advertisers secure data concerning radio
coverage?

RADIO BROADCAST
ADVERTISING

Serial 3360B (PART 2) Edition 1

PUTTING RADIO TO WORK

SPOT BROADCASTING

1. Use of Spot Broadcasting. — The commercial
sponsorship of programs broadcast independently over
individual stations is called spot broadcasting. Spot
broadcasting is, in effect, as old as commercial broadcast
ing itself, but its use over recent years is attracting keen
interest on the part of national advertisers. Some hold
spot broadcasting to be synonymous solely with the use
of electrical transcriptions. These are much used, but,
spot broadcasting also frequently calls for live talent. A
comparison is sometimes drawn between radio and printed
advertising to show the relation of spot to network broad
casting. Network broadcasting is described as being
comparable to the functions of magazine advertising, and
spot broadcasting to newspaper advertising. This is not
a sound comparison. Either spot or network broadcasting
can be, and is used for purposes similar to the functions of
both types of printed advertising.

Which of the two forms of radio an advertiser should
use will depend upon his objective, how he wishes to gain
it and whether it will be most economically gained by the
use of network, or chain, broadcasting. He may, as some
advertisers do, wish to use both. He may, as has been
done, start out with one method and eventually change
to the other. He may later conclude that spot broadcast
ing will be valuable as a supplement to his network
activities. He may wish to use electrical transcriptions

2 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

much as he would newspaper mats in supporting his dealers
with local advertising that is paid for entirely by the
advertiser, or in cooperation with his dealers.

An important point for the advertiser to bear in mind
is that spot broadcasting is a distinct and separate form of
advertising which definitely has its own place in the field
of advertising mediums and has its own particular advan
tages.

2 Spot Broadcasting by Merchants. — Spot broadcast
ing, in addition to its use by national advertisers, also
is the form of broadcasting used by local merchants who
buy time on a station in their own communities. It
particularly recommends itself to an advertiser who wishes
to confine his advertising activities to specific markets
which are determined by his individual distribution prob
lem. If these markets are few in number he may find the
networks, as they sometimes are, reluctant to take a small
hook-up. Then spot broadcasting particularly fits itself
into his plans. It also recommends itself to an advertiser
who insists upon his program being broadcast at a uniform
time, regardless of time zones or daylight saving.

Whether the list of markets that an advertiser wishes to
reach over the air is large or small, he can make his own
list and have availablo a wider choice of stations in those
markets where he contemplates the use of non-network
stations as well as network.

Method of use, ways of contracting for time and the
question of cost also serve to make the two forms, network
and spot, entirely distinctive. The sponsor has un
limited choice of talent personality when he uses transcrip
tions and if he buys his time cautiously, may secure very
favorable hours on the stations he prefers to use.

Perhaps conditions are not ripe for an advertiser to go
on the air in a number of markets. He may want merely
to cover a segment or to reach markets of a certain size or

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 3

type. With spot broadcasting he can cut his cloth to
suit his garment.

From these variables it can be seen that the advertiser
should study the purchase as well as the use of spot broad
casting. He must evaluate its advantages and determine
whether these will best serve his purpose, or whether he
should make use of networks, or whether he should employ
both.

3. Details of Spot Broadcasting. — The following
questions and their answers will serve to make plain some
of the important details connected with spot broadcasting.

7s spot broadcasting new? No, it is one of the earliest,
if not the first, type of commercial sponsorship. Com
mercial broadcasting predates the formation of radio
networks and the subsequent sponsorship of programs
emanating from a central studio and immediately trans
mitted over a number of stations.

How many types of spot programs are there? There are
five distinct types of programs:

1. "Live" talent.

2. Sponsorship of service reports, such as time, weather,
sports, market quotations and news.

3. Cooperative participation in cooking schools, home
economic hours, and similar features sponsored by
independent stations.

4. Brief commercial announcements.

5. Electrical transcriptions.

Can these types be combined? Yes. Live talent can be
used together with electrical transcription. Entertain
ment may be all transcription and the commercial an
nouncements may be read by the station announcer. Or,
the commercial credit can be incorporated in the electrical
transcription and used in conjunction with entertainment
provided by live talent.

4 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

What is "live talent"? By live talent is meant the
artists or speakers who broadcast in person before the
station microphone. Live talent is made use of in two
ways. An advertiser can arrange for his own casting from
local talent, or he may sponsor a sustaining program of
live talent for which an audience following already has
been built.

What is electrical transcription? — Electrical transcrip
tion is a special method of recording on discs designed for
broadcasting use. Because transcriptions are very largely
used in spot broadcasting, a misconception exists among
many persons, who think that spot broadcasting covers
electrical transcription only.

Where are transcriptions made? — Transcriptions are
made in the recording studios of companies equipped to
render this specialized service. These companies main
tain studios which in appearance and set-up are very like
the studios of broadcasting stations. Some transcrip
tions are made direct from studios in advertising agencies
through special wire hook-ups to the recording companies.

How are transcriptions made? — A program is staged, but
instead of going out over the air, it is transmitted over the
recording apparatus to a large turntable on which thick
wax discs revolve. Transcriptions also are made for net
work advertisers who desire records of their broadcasts
either for permanent reference or for spot transmission
over other stations. Such records are made by arranging
to have a recording studio pick up the network studio per
formance. If the purpose of the record is for file, the
recordings usually are made on aluminum discs.

In making recordings for broadcast, usually two discs
are made of each program. Every detail of their record
ing is carefully timed down to the fraction of a second.
One disc is used in an immediate "play-back" to check up
on the performance and its recording and to detect imper-

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 5

fections. Sometimes a performance must be gone through
several times before the work of the artists is pronounced
satisfactory in timing, vocal inflection or musical scoring.
Duplicate records are made of each recording until the
performance is satisfactory. After approval, the second
wax disc of a satisfactory performance is electroplated
so as to give a copper negative. This negative becomes the
master plate from which are also made two test pressings,
one of which is played to secure confirming approval.

The next step is to electroplate the master plate so
as to preserve from wear the only existing record of the
program. This plating yields what is known in the trade
as the ' 'Mother/' a positive. This, too, is plated to get a
negative, resulting in what is called the stamper, from
which are made the necessary number of positive or play
ing discs of a composition material. These final discs
are furnished to the stations which are to broadcast the
program.

How are transcriptions broadcast? — Transcriptions are
placed on the turntables in the station studio and their
playing is supervised by skilled operators. The transcrip
tion, which is usually received about a week in advance
of broadcasting use, has already been rehearsed and timed
to determine the length of time required for broadcasting
it. The pick-up attached to the tone arm directly picks
up the sound-wave recordings from the disc as it revolves
and transmits them over the air. Nothing is heard in the
studio as the program is played. In the control room the
engineers do their work in regulating volume just as they
would a live-talent broadcast.

When the time comes for station announcement on the
longer broadcasts, the director signals and the announce
ment is made. Then the announcer steps away from his
microphone and the program continues from the turn
tables. While nothing of the program is being heard in
the studio, people listening in to the broadcast hear every-

536B— 10

6 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

thing exactly as they would had the performance been
broadcast immediately as it was performed in the recording
studio.

So marked have been the refinements in recording and
transcribing technique that on modern equipment it is
impossible for listeners -in to distinguish between broad
casts by electrical transcription and live talent.

Why must stations announce "electrical transcription"?
In the earlier days of broadcasting, stations which found
themselves unable, economically, to finance live-talent
presentations turned to the playing of phonograph records
as a source of entertainment material. These records,
however, were easily recognized for what they were. They
were not popular with listeners, who felt that if they
wanted to hear phonograph records, they could do so by
playing them on their own machines.

Some time later, as sound reproduction processes im
proved under the impetus of radio development, a method
was worked out for the making of records solely for
broadcast use. The first sponsorship of this type of
broadcast, so the story goes, involved a program for
Maytag washers.

This method of broadcast, with the Maytag campaign
under way, came up before the Federal Radio Commis
sion now called The Federal Communications Commis
sion, for a ruling. To avoid any element of deception, the
Commission ruled that at the beginning of each transcrip
tion program the station should announce: "The next
program comes to you by electrical transcription made
exclusively for broadcast purposes."

It also was required that at the close of the program an
announcement be made that "This program has come to
you by electrical transcription made exclusively for broad
cast purposes."

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 7

When broadcast recording equipment had been even
further perfected, a delegation of representatives of this
phase of the business asked the Federal Radio Commis
sion for a new ruling. The result was that it is now neces
sary only to state once during a short program that it is
one of electrical transcription. The announcement must
be made once every fifteen minutes on a longer program.
No announcement is required on programs of two minutes
or less or on transcriptions that are used for sound effects
only.

No prescribed wording is compulsory. The require
ment is that the words used must be such as to give the
public an understanding of the source of the program to
which it is listening. Beech-Nut, in its Chandu program,
capitalized this ruling to advantage. In effect, its
announcements stated that "Chandu is available to you
only by means of electrical transcription."

Can more than one advertiser sponsor the same transcrip
tion program f — Already prepared transcriptions can be
bought in several ways. They may be purchased from
companies that make them, and that sell them individually
to stations or advertisers for use on one station or for use
in certain sections. The buyer has exclusive rights in the
territory contracted for.

A station may use the transcription as a sustaining
program, building up an audience following for it. Later
the station may get a local or national advertiser to sponsor
that program. The Chandu series is an instance of the
use of ready-made programs. This was sponsored in
the West by three or four advertisers at different times.
Beech-Nut, in its sponsorship, had exclusive rights east
of the Mississippi River.

The transcriptions are shipped from the producers
direct to the stations. The signature music fades in and
out and in the elapsing time the commercial announce
ments are made. These are usually "live" commercials.

8 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

4. Interesting Dealers in the Broadcast Program.
Much impetus is given to the success of a program by the
plans devised for supplemental or primary advertising and
the plans for encouraging dealer tie-in and merchandising
of the program at the point of sale.

While variance in time and day does not permit the
specific mention that is made possible for network adver
tisers in their national copy, spot broadcasting can be as
effectively advertised in newspaper space as can chain
programs. All that is necessary is to supply a plate,
which can be dropped into the space allowed in newspaper
copy, for calling the public's attention to the broadcast
scheduled in its local territory.

One advertiser, his program about to go on the air,
sent out to dealers 12,000 broadsides featuring the event.
In addition, three types of letters were sent to as many
classes of dealers outlining the broadcast and urging them
to tie in. Stations were invited to send in lists of dealers
in their territories in order that these dealers could be
written to and made conscious of the significance of the
local advertising to them.

5. Salesmen Influenced by Broadcasting. — It is

important to create and keep alive the enthusiasm of sales
men in the broadcast campaign. If they are alert and on
the job, they will see to it that their dealers keep the
product on display so that it will serve as a reminder
message when the customer who has listened to the pro
gram enters the store.

6. Methods of Advertising a Program. — Some of the
various ways to advertise and merchandise a program
are given in the following list.

Newspaper advertising of a local broadcast.

Business-paper advertising of a broadcast series, which
can list the type of program and the number and names
of stations.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 9

Letters to jobbers, salesmen, dealers and, on occasion,
listeners.

Broadsides.

Booklets, for distribution through the trade to con
sumers.

Postcards.

Blotters, to feature the program or for announce
ment and reminder messages.

House magazines.
Novelties.

Enlarged telegrams and radiograms.
Counter displays
Samples.

Window displays.

Stickers and inserts for use with regular mail or ship
ments of goods.

Letterheads, when specially designed to list the stations
being used in a campaign.

Car cards.

7. Use of Premium Offers. — The experience of a food
advertiser with premium offers has convinced him that
such offers are not imperative at any time. Circum
stances, however, may make an offer desirable as a supple
mentary help for any of the following purposes :

To draw mail in order to gauge program popularity;

to get names of prospects; to determine average type

of listener.

To test scope of station coverage.

To pull actual sales results.

To force distribution by heading people into dealers'

stores.

It is the experience of another spot advertiser, in the
cosmetic field, that offers on the air which involve enclo
sure of money do not pull so well as similar offers in
periodical copy. At the same time, it is his belief that
the doubling of coupon inquiries from his magazine
advertising is due to his inclusion of spot broadcasting.

10 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

Women who would not take the time to write after a
broadcast, later see the published coupon offer and are
reminded again to make the request — when it is easier to do
so.

8. Guaranteeing the Broadcast. — Each station, upon
request, will submit an affidavit as to the time the pro
gram went on, the time it went off, name of the announcer
and, sometimes, name of the engineer. This affidavit is
a transcript from the station log. Also, a sponsor's sales
men or distributors can be instructed to check up and see
whether a broadcast goes through as planned. In addi
tion, there are checking bureaus which have people in every
territory to report on program broadcasts.

One advertiser who checks up his broadcasts with his
distributors has found out that good dealers in certain
locations did not get the full benefit of radio programs from
stations that were supposed to give those particular towns
good coverage. With information derived by careful
checking it is possible to strengthen the campaign either by
a change in stations or the addition of stations to blanket
the weak spots.

9. Preparation of a Broadcast. — The steps in prepar
ing a series of spot broadcasts are as follows :

1. Creation of the idea.

2. Tie-in with other merchandising activities.

3. Development of the program.

4. Release to the public.

The idea may originate with the advertising agency,
the advertiser, or it may come from some outside source.
From conception to the broadcast show, the following has
to be done :

A list must be made of the markets to be covered by the
contemplated broadcasts. Distribution set-up may deter
mine what these markets will be or they may be dictated

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 11

by a particular distribution problem (perhaps competitive)
existing in one or a number of markets.

The building-up of the program involves the writing
of script, the selection of musical numbers, the casting of
talent, the direction of rehearsals and every detail that
enters into the making of a finished continuity, or scenario.

The buying of time usually is done by the agency which
also selects the stations which best fit into the plan in the
territories to be covered. Purchase of time can be made
through stations direct, through station representatives,
through time-brokers or the local (spot) broadcasting
subsidiaries or departments of the networks.

In advance of broadcasts, plans should be worked out
for merchandising the series to salesmen and the trade, and
for advertising the feature to the public.

The guides to the selection of spot broadcasting sta
tions are as follows :

(a) Wave length and frequency.

(6) Coverage as determined by signal strength tests and
audience surveys.

(d) Program structure in comparison with other stations
in community.

(e) Time available.

(/) Previous results with a station.

(gr) If electrical transcriptions are used, the facilities and
ability for excellence in their handling.

(h) If a live-talent program is used, availability and quality
of talent.

(i) Ownership and its influence on management of station,
(j) Merchandising service cooperation.
(k) Facility for giving program publicity.

10. Handling the Commercial Credit. — In connec
tion with broadcasting, the term commercial credit (some
times shortened to commercial) is applied to that part of

12 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

the broadcast which contains the advertising message
by which the sponsor and his business is connected with
the broadcast as a whole, and thus obtains credit for
furnishing the entertainment. Most advertisers prefer
to have their commercial credits delivered by electrical
transcription. This assures uniformity. As one adver
tiser who uses seventy-eight stations points out, he does
not want a half -hundred or more varying interpretations
of his carefully worked out advertising message. Empha
sis, inflection, pause or the personality of an announcer, as
conveyed by his voice, may greatly change the import
of an announcement.

There are instances, however, where it is desirable to
localize the commercial credit. It may be that an adver
tiser wants to test a premium offer, he may want to men
tion local distributors, to read testimonials of local
customers, to mention a price which varies with certain
territories. The flexibility that comes with commercial
credits handled by station announcers is especially advan
tageous in handling such special problems.

11. Desirable Length for Commercial Credit. — Inge
nuity and common sense are the best guides in deter
mining the length and the nature of the commercial
credit. A very brief message can be distasteful if it is
blatant. Again, if strategy is used, the advertiser can keep
his name or that of his product before the public nat
urally and without offense. Even on so brief a broadcast
as a time announcement, Bulova Watch gets its name
over in a logical tie-in.

Sometimes the selling point of a product can be enter
tainingly put over by the talent. For example, De Soto
in a five-minute transcription employed the aid of the
master of ceremonies and an orchestra conductor to
portray graphically how much difference there is between
a De Soto and other cars. The leader directed only a

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 13

part of the orchestra, then added four more pieces, making
a complete orchestra. The leader then drove home the
comparison.

In the matter of commercial credits the same factors
must be weighed for spot broadcasting as in the case of
chain broadcasting. No set standards can be prescribed.
Everything depends upon the way the commercial credit
is written, spoken and placed in the program. When
ever the question of length is raised by clients of one
station executive, he answers, "As long as you would be
willing to listen to over your own radio, provided the
message was not your own."

12. Frequency of Broadcasts. — Obviously, broadcasts
should be as frequent as the advertiser thinks is necessary
to do a good job, with due consideration of the amount
of money he is prepared to spend. There seems to be a
general opinion that as broadcasts decrease in length of
time, they should be given more frequently. Hour and
half-hour schedules can go on weekly, but many quarter-
hour broadcasts go on more than once a week. Similarly
five-minute broadcasts generally should be used several
times a week so as not to have too long a break between
broadcasts.

The records of 85 stations showed that 22 advertisers
used spot announcements five times per month; 13, ten
times; 13, fifteen times; 5, twenty times; 22, thirty times;
3, fifty times; and 7, one hundred times. The number of
monthly spot announcements over one station has run as
high as 581 for the Curtis Candy Company.

13. Best Day for Announcements. — People do not
turn on their radios merely because it happens to be
Tuesday or Friday. Nevertheless, some advertisers
advance reasons for the preference of one day over another.
One, for example, aims to select a night which he thinks

14 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

attracts a larger radio following because of the major
programs that are regularly broadcast on that evening.
Another advertiser studies local customs and endeavors to
buy time on the night which is customarily the maid's
night out. He also watches to see that no regularly
scheduled community event will take people out of their
homes at the time he is trying to reach them.

The two factors given most important consideration are
those of community custom, and the article or service the
program is trying to sell. For example, if the sponsor is
a wearing-apparel advertiser whose product appeals to the
greater number of housewives who do their own house
work, then, in the opinion of one advertiser, Monday
(universal washday) would be one of the poorest days of
the week to broadcast, and Tuesday about the best.

14. The Best Time. — The most desirable time for an
announcement depends largely on the type of audience
to be reached. A good illustration is furnished by the
Caterpillar Tractor Company, which broadcast very early
in the morning so as to reach the farmer while he was at
breakfast. A fifteen-minute live-talent program was
offered and it included experience stories of Caterpillar
tractor users in the immediate territory of the station
from which the broadcast was made.

The advertising manager of Dunn & McCarthy, Inc.,
has found that advertising for Enna Jettick shoes,
addressed to women, gets its largest audience in cities,
from 8:45 a.m., to 9:15 a.m.

Banks, which presumably aim to reach the head of
the house when he is home or which choose to address the
family as a unit, show a strong preference for evening
broadcasts. A survey of the hours selected by banking
institutions shows that among fifty-one, all but eight
broadcast in the evening. Five of the eight use morning
hours, the remaining three broadcast in the afternoon.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 15

While it is conceded that the daytime affords a large
feminine audience, its character changes considerably
between morning and afternoon. During the morning,
the average woman listener is most likely to be a house
wife, occupied with the domestic plans of the day, with
cooking and cleaning. Her interest then is in things that
have to do with the home and the family. In the after
noon, however, she is much more herself, interested in her
own person, a social being. Then she is more receptive to
messages that have more to do with her person.

One spot broadcaster, as the mid-summer season
approaches, has found it desirable to shift the time to
later hours, in the belief that many people do not turn on
their radios until after dark.

The value of time placement, in the opinion of many
advertising executives, is greatly influenced by the
popularity of the sponsored or sustaining program imme
diately preceding.

The most desirable time, from the standpoint of size
of audience, is during the evening hours. In addition, late
afternoon hours in the far west are popular because of the
earlier (on local time) reception of outstanding network
programs that are being broadcast on eastern standard
time.

15. Some Spot Experience. — Following are given brief
descriptions of broadcasting methods that have been used
successfully by well known advertisers. These experiences
furnish information that should be of value to all who
contemplate the use of radio in their business.

Richard Hudnut, New York, at one time broadcast a
series of fifteen-minute programs over four stations, five
times a week. A lipstick and eyebrow combination,
specially prepared for this series, was offered free on receipt
of the white protective seal that covers the package of
Hudnut face powder. Listeners were asked to send their

16 RADIO BKOADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

requests to the station to which they had been listening,
and this station forwarded the requests to the Hudnut
office.

Benjamin Moore & Company, New York, makers of
Muresco wall finish and paint, provide an instance illus
trating how spot broadcasting may be used to supplement
a network program. On the network, the company fea
tured a radio character, a woman who talks on home
decoration. In several cities, including Rochester; Char
lotte, N. C.; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Richmond, Va.; Des
Moines and Kansas City, Mo., this advertiser used live
talent in spot broadcasts of programs employing the same
material and continuity as the chain broadcast. The
company also supplied its fifteen salesmen with portable
receiving sets and instructed each salesman to be in a
dealer's store at broadcasting time, plug in the set, and
bring the program to the dealer. Thus they made sure
that the salesman would hear the broadcasts, and that the
dealers' interest in them would be stimulated.

Another advertiser is emphatic in his declaration that the
program is second in importance to getting the right time.
His company's program appears over nearly 100 stations
and brings varying results, although the factor of the
entertainment is a fixed quantity. He feels that nothing
offered the public as an inducement to buy a product
promotes that product so well as a sample. The next best
offer, from the manufacturer's point of advantage, he
believes, is a sample of some other product in the line.
Every sample offer made in this advertiser's broadcasts
has been and will continue to be a product made by the
company.

The B or den Company, Cheese Division, New York,
developed a high-class program of live talent for a thirteen-
week series of broadcasts in Washington, D. C. The
purpose of the campaign was to obtain better distribution.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 17

In advance of the first broadcast, an advertising executive
of the company and a representative of its advertising
agency went to Washington and met with dealers and
wholesalers to whom the plans were outlined. Merchan
dising of the program was accomplished by use of window
and counter displays and painted signs on trucks. The
program also was advertised in newspapers. The Com
pany is reported to have gained a marked improvement in
distribution through retail outlets.

The Bulova Watch Company, New York, veteran spot
advertiser, at one time used close to 200 stations, sponsor
ing more than 300 time signals daily. Its purchase of
time on stations varied from about ten seconds to one
minute. The length of the announcement varies from
fifteen words, for example, "9 P. M., Bulova, B-U-L-0-V-A,
watch time," through other fractional periods of a minute,
up to 100 words in a one-minute announcement.

Obviously, even in the longest announcement, the
company cannot talk about its many models of watches.
It will feature one watch at a time, usualty changing copy
every two weeks. In this way, perhaps six watches will
be featured through the year. To tie in with the broad
casts, jewelers are furnished with newspaper mats, three
and four-color postcards, folders and window displays for
use in featuring these watches.

The Reo Motor Car Company, Lansing, Mich., in intro
ducing its new Self-shifter automobile found spot broad
casting effective. In the preparation of the series, the
Company had the following objectives:

1. To cover the territories where it knew Reo business
was available, at the least possible expenditure.

2. To select time on stations which it knew would be
listened to by a good following.

3. To select enough stations to give overlapping cov
erage.

18 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

Use of Rotating Principle. — One company makes use of
the rotating principle in spot broadcasting. It employs a
staff of trained experts who travel from city to city. Each
woman spends about a month in a city, during which time
she is featured on five-minute programs over the local
broadcasting station. At the conclusion of the broadcasts,
people are invited to send in to the station questions about
problems they might have. The speaker also announces
that after the broadcast, which is usually around nine in
the morning, she will be available in one of the retail stores
in the city, from 10 A. M. to 4 P. M.

A company salesman makes his headquarters in the
city in which the broadcasts are being held and works his
territory from that point during the month. Both he and
the speaker then move on to the next point from which
the monthly program is to be conducted. With this type
of program, this advertiser personalizes his sales promotion
workers. Newspaper advertising is used to advertise
both the product and the radio program.

Another adaptation of the rotating principle is the
campaign conducted several years ago by an advertiser
who employed a combination of live talent and electrical
transcription. The program was featured as a series of
six broadcasts. It included six talks by women who were
authorities on home furnishing, cooking, cosmetics, home
budgeting and kindred subjects of interest to women.
Entertainment was by electrical transcription, which
preceded and followed the personal talk from the studio.
Each broadcast prepared the way for the next.

The Beech-Nut Packing Company, Canajoharie, N, F.,
broadcasting the Chandu program is one of the outstand
ing successful users of electrical transcription. Its total
mail inquiries over a twelve-month period are reported to
have exceeded 700,000 requests for the magic premiums
which were offered on receipt of the required evidence of

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 19

purchase of Beech-Nut products. The purpose behind
these premium offers is not to gauge the scope of the listen
ing audience, although the number of requests does serve
as a casual guide. Premiums are employed as a wedge to
get distribution and to offset any attempts on the part of
dealers to substitute or discontinue the company's pro
ducts.

The success of the Chandu program is credited to its
being a program that had a basic appeal to children.
Because it combined serial, mystery, romance, travel and
foreign lure, it had a definite appeal to adults as well.
Equally important in making the program effective in
promoting sales, it is stated, the merchandising work done
by the Beech-Nut sales organization in developing and
keeping alive the enthusiasm of the trade for the program.
With the discontinuance of the Chandu program, the com
pany started another broadcast featuring the character,
Red Davis. This series dealt with the doings of an adoles
cent boy. Both network and spot broadcasting were used.

In preparing these programs, a performance is held
about two weeks before each chain broadcast. Electrical
transcriptions are made of this so that the records can be
delivered to the stations on the spot list in time for them
to go on the air the same day as the chain broadcast per
formance. It is reasoned that in the area where networks
are used, time on the desired stations can be bought more
economically than would be the case if time were pur
chased individually from each station. Conversely, in
the area where spot broadcasting is done, the time on the
stations used, because of the long distance between points
and the toll charges involved, can be bought more eco
nomically by selecting the stations individually to give
the company the coverage needed.

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company operates
under executive divisions, determined geographically.
These are further sub-divided into territorial units. Any

20 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

of the units wishing to add spot-broadcasting to their list
of mediums can do so without bothering to ask organiza
tion headquarters.

The lodent Chemical Company, Detroit, before going on
the air with a spot broadcasting campaign which was to
include a large list of stations, first tested its program in
four widely separated markets. These were New York,
St. Paul, Cincinnati and Kansas City, Mo. It was felt
that a study of the response would provide a fairly accurate
guide to the reception which the program would get.
After the campaign was under way, other stations were
added, and then a jump was made over the Far West to
the Pacific Coast which was covered by the addition of
more stations. By such means advertisers may take
advantage of the flexibility of spot broadcasting to extend
their campaigns into selected sales markets.

Chevrolet, at one time, conducted a spot campaign that
aroused considerable comment because of its use of 167
stations. Dealers cooperated in the expense. At first,
135 stations were selected, radio coverage being plotted
much as a newspaper campaign over the same area would
have been plotted. It was decided that if any group of
dealers wanted a station added to the list, it would be
added without question, provided the station was ade
quately equipped to handle electrical transcriptions.
After nine months of an open minded policy on additional
stations, only thirty-two additions were made at the
request of dealers. All but two of the total number of
stations broadcast in the evening and these two exceptions
were in agricultural communities where they were timed
to reach farmers at their noonday dinner.

G. P. A. Radiator Glycerine, as advertised in spot
announcements by Glycerine Producers Association, New
York, furnishes an excellent example of what can be
accomplished in timing copy so that each announcement

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 21

will fit in with weather conditions at the time of broadcast.
The cast of characters in this one-minute radio show has
been described as an automobile horn, a voice, and the
weather.

The series was broadcast over seventy-five stations
from one to three times daily. The script covered a
weather report, the blast of an auto horn, and fifty words
of commercial. To get a standardized horn blast that
would be uniform in sound throughout the country, an
electrical transcription was made with sixteen sets of
grooves to take care of wear and tear so that when one set
wore out, another standardized "blast" would be immedi
ately available. A script book was sent to each station.
This contained eighteen different announcements, together
with detailed instructions as to their use. Tabs divided
the book as follows: "How to select announcements";
classifications of the eighteen announcements under
Before First Freeze, First Freeze Forecast, Between First
and Second Freeze, All Other Freezes, Warm spells
Between Freezes, and Extreme cold.

After receiving the day's weather report and forecast
from its local weather bureau or newspaper report, the
station determined which of the six weather groups suited
that day's weather. It then selected an announcement
from that group. If there were five announcements in
one group, they were used in order and the process was
repeated as many times as required by local weather con
ditions.

The Greyhound Management Co., Cleveland, Ohio, bus
transportation, used spot announcements to sell definite
holiday or other excursions where special fares were
announced over the air.

The Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company, Long Island City,
N. Y., used nineteen stations in selected territories with
programs of interest to children. Sunshine Biscuits,
particularly Sunshine Krispy Crackers, were advertised.

S36B— 11

22 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

These programs were particularly well merchandized to the
trade. Store cards on which the broadcasts were featured
were offered to dealers. In addition, a four-page tabloid
newspaper, Sunshine Radio News, was distributed to
dealers in 100,000 lots. This newspaper announced the
fact that Loose- Wiles was going on the air, contained
pictures from the program, and included details of the
Sunshine Discoverers' Club.

Buick Motors — "Walk into any Buick salesroom and
learn of the extraordinary allowance that will be made on
your car." This was the substance of three one-minute
spot announcements that were used in a campaign by
Buick Motors some time ago. The announcements were
made daily, twice during the day and once at night, over
ninety-six stations. The campaign aimed to move dealers7
stocks when the now discontinued Marquette line was
being liquidated. It is an example of the timely use of
spot news. Results, it is stated, brought 20,000 people
into dealers' showrooms and, during the first week, stepped
up sales from 400 a week to more than 1,200.

The Vick Chemical Company, Greensboro, N. C., used
one-minute spot announcements in the introductory cam
paign for Voratone, and again in a seasonal news tie-up
explaining the use of its products in guarding against colds.
On one occasion, seventy-two stations were used with two
broadcasts during the day and one in the evening. On
another, sixty-six, stations were used with one announce
ment daily in the daytime and one in the evening. The
two series were run intermittently, being dropped for a
week or so now and then and renewed. Under these cir
cumstances the placing of the spot was left to the stations.
The announcements were in the nature of semi-news
matters, and tied in with local conditions wherever possible.

The commercials, read by station announcers, for
example, would state that there were rumors of increasing
"flu" cases in the territory and that the public health

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 23

authorities were recommending precautionary methods.
People were told not to be alarmed and that one way of
warding off colds was the use of Vick's Nose Drops.

The Rumford Company, Rumford, R. I., using electrical
transcriptions on about fifty stations, is an outstanding
spot advertiser. Its early use of broadcasting was
limited to participation in cooking-school programs.
Eventually, the decision was made to expand its radio
activities and since that time the company has been
sponsoring its own cooking school programs.

Fifteen-minute programs are broadcast twice a week.
Introductory talks vary. They may cover general dis
cussions about products in the home and, at other times,
talk about Rumford baking products. Listeners are
invited to write in for recipes mentioned during the pro
gram, or for booklets offered. Such offers are natural tie-
ins with the merchandising activities of the company and
are not artificially pushed as a gauge to determine the size
of the audience or the pulling power of any one broadcast.

Over the course of several years, little consideration has
been given to changing the type of program, so satisfied
is the sponsor with its success. In one instance where the
desirability of a change came up, local announcers were
given instructions to ask whether a different type of pro
gram was wanted. The percentage of listeners that
favored a change was so small that the investigation never
went any further.

Rumford has made extensive use of imitation theater
tickets in merchandising its broadcast series through
grocery retailers. These tickets, inviting people to A-l
seats, are distributed by salesmen in lots of 50 and 100.
A hanger display, in the shape of a microphone, also is
distributed. Each one carries the call letters of the sta
tions in the territory where it is to be used. Salesmen
take care of the work of putting up these hangers and
checking to keep them on display.

24 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

16. Checking-Points on Spot Broadcasting. — In mak
ing a decision as to the advisability of using spot broadcast
ing, the following points should be considered in order
that advantage may be taken of the conditions that are
the most favorable in each case.

Flexibility. This covers more than the picking
of individual markets, or stations. It enables certain
changes either in program, or the commercial credit
that may seem advisable because of differences in
markets or time zones. Also it makes possible gradual
or wide extension of the campaign to include additional
stations.

Adjustment of weight or intensity (circulation) with
cost that is commensurate with distribution, market
and competition.

Ability to state local retail prices where price men
tion is permitted. For example, automobile adver
tisers may be able to mention delivered price.

Adaptation of commercial credits to local conditions.
Often dealers' names can be mentioned or testimonials
of local users read.

Possibilities afforded by recordings. Personal
appearance of talent at time of broadcast unnecessary.
Several programs recorded at one time result in
economy and continuity.

Possibility of picking stations on individual
merits.

Possibility of Weighing the cost of spot rates and
recordings or local talent charges, against chain rates
and toll charges. Combination of chain in some sec
tions and spot in others may sometimes be preferable to
either chain or spot exclusively.

Possibility of staggering time of broadcast over
several stations so as to duplicate coverage over inter-
lapping areas and give parts of audience several times to
catch program.

In order to avoid possible difficulties in spot broadcast
ing, careful attention should be given to the following
matters :

If live talent is used, the sponsor should give
detailed instructions as to direction, so that the broad
casts over various stations will achieve as much uni-

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 25

formity as possible. Such instructions also are impor
tant in regard to the commercial credits to be delivered
by station announcers.

If the program has been a sustaining one or one
previously sponsored by other advertisers, capitalize
immediately the audience following of that program.

If broadcasting is done from spots at different
times on different days for certain reasons, these reasons
should be weighed against the added difficulties in mer
chandising the program.

In judging claims of coverage or influence of sta
tions, check not only figures, but the basis on which
the figures are arrived at because there is still lack of
uniformity in methods of determining coverage.

Where transcriptions are used, not only is good
recording essential, but the quality of reproduction of
that recording at the broadcasting stations is of para
mount importance. Check carefully the station's
ability to handle transcriptions.

See to it that transcriptions are forwarded in ample
time to allow for possible delay or damage in transit.

CHAIN OR NETWORK BROADCASTING

17. The Network Broadcast. — A spot broadcast is a
program broadcast only by the station where it originates.
When this program is conveyed by wires to other stations,
and all stations so connected broadcast the same program
simultaneously, the result is a network broadcast. The
maps, Figs. 1 and 2, show how the various stations associ
ated with a network are linked by wire.

There is practically no limit to the size to which a net
work can be built, and it is a common occurrence for broad
casters to use anywhere from fifty to more than a hundred
stations, located throughout the country in such a way as
to make the program available to practically every radio
home in the United States.

The principal national and sectional networks have
already been enumerated, and here consideration will be
restricted to the networks of the National Broadcasting
Company, and the Columbia Broadcasting System.

26 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

18. Basic Networks. — Each of the networks men
tioned is composed of a basic group, which is the usual
sales unit, and supplementary groups which may be added
as units at the advertiser's wish, in order to cover the areas
in his distribution.

The basic networks cover the northeast quarter of the
United States where population is concentrated. The
cities in which their stations are located are the key trad
ing centres of practically any national advertiser's dis
tribution.

The power of the stations in different cities varies
greatly, ranging from 500 watts to 50,000 and one station
WLW uses 500,000 watts. But the combined coverage
of all the stations on any of these three basic networks
provides primary service to almost all parts of the north
east quarter of the country. Similarly, the supplementary
networks provide coverage of other sections of the country,
though not with the same degree of intensity.

The networks of the National Broadcasting Company
and the Columbia Broadcasting System furnish to adver
tisers elaborate and costly books containing large coverage
maps of the whole country built on a plan similar to the
WABC map shown in Fig. 3 of Radio Broadcasting,
Part 1, but extending over the United States and Canada.
Special maps are provided showing day time and evening
listening areas.

These maps are not suitable for reproduction in a text
of this size, but the student who becomes associated with
any large general advertiser or connected with a nationally
recognized agency can secure, or at least examine, such
maps.

The individual stations composing a network are not
all owned by the network; in fact, most of them are not.
But all work on a uniform basis and are as closely associ
ated with each other in their network operation as if they
had a common ownership.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 27

Wires connect these stations with each other, so that
all may broadcast the same programs. Theoretically it is
possible to originate a broadcast on any station in the net
work and provide it to all the others. Actual practice,
however, has indicated the desirability of originating pro
grams at a few key points, and therefore each network
has what it calls key stations. For the N. B. C. Blue
network the key station is WJZ, New York. For the
N. B. C. Red network it is WEAF, New York. For
Columbia, the key station is WABC, New York.

Programs are originated at other stations regularly,
also notably in Chicago and Los Angeles, but the resources,
quality and variety of radio talent are so much greater
in New York than elsewhere, that New York has become
the focal point for radio in the United States.

19. The Split Network. — There are many extensive
organizations, doing a large volume of business, which are
of a sectional rather than a national character. The gaso
line and oil companies provide an excellent example of
this type of company. To serve their broadcasting needs
on a network basis, the chains have, upon occasion, split
their networks to conform to the advertiser's distribution.
But a split network contract always contains a recapture
clause, enabling the chain to cancel the contract before its
expiration should the split network time be purchased by
an advertiser who will use the entire network.

There are now so many broadcasters using the com
plete basic chains, or who desire time on them and cannot
get it, that the split network arrangement is becoming
continually more precarious for the broadcaster, and the
opportunity to purchase a split network is diminishing to
the vanishing point. It is this circumstance, this excess
of demand over facilities, that indicates the approach of a
time when another major network of national standing
will be formed.

28 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

20. Time Zones and Rebroadcasts. — Coast-to-coast
networks cover the four time zones of the United States,
and this must be taken into consideration in planning a
nationwide program. Ten o'clock, standard time in
New York, is seven o'clock in Los Angeles and San Fran
cisco, eight o'clock in Denever, nine o'clock in St. Louis
and the middle west. Chicago at present is on Eastern
standard time.

With most of the larger commercial broadcasts originat
ing in New York, and planned to reach radio audiences in
the eastern and central time zones at the most popular
time, namely, between seven and ten thirty, it is evident
that programs sent to the Pacific Coast at the same time
might arrive at most inappropriate hours. There is no
point, for example, in having a program of primary inter
est to men reach Los Angeles at four or five o'clock in the
afternoon when most men are working and are not able
to hear the broadcast.

Because of this condition, many sponsors broadcast
the same program twice in an evening — once for eastern
and central time-zone audiences, and later for mountain
and Pacific audiences.

With a good receiving set it is possible to hear both
broadcasts on a night when the reception is good. For
instance, if you miss Amos 'n' Andy at seven, and you live
in the eastern time zone, you can pick up the program at
eleven o'clock from a far western station such as Denver
or Los Angeles. The two programs, of course, are
identical.

Rebroadcasts, as these are called, increase the cost of
producing the program. But every dollar spent for radio
advertising, just as in other advertising, is invested with
the expectation of obtaining a profitable result. The extra
dollars required for a rebroadcast are an investment in a
larger and more responsive audience than would otherwise
be reached. The advertiser must balance his investment

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 29

against the market potentialities, and if he is convinced
that he will get his money's worth, then rebroadcasting is
desirable.

21. Sustaining Programs. — At least one program,
usually two programs, and sometimes three or four are
produced every operating minute of the broadcasting day
by each of the national networks. Time not sold to spon
sors, either by the network as a whole or by individual sta
tions, must be filled. Radio stations are not permitted to
have blank spots in the schedules, and even if they were
they wouldn't have them because they would soon lose
their audience. The American listener expects to hear
something when he turns his dial to a given point, whether
the station has sold the time or not. And he expects what
he hears to be something he can enjoy. Consequently,
network time not purchased by sponsors is filled with pro
grams furnished at the expense of the network. These
are called sustaining programs.

In cases where the complete network is not used, the
stations not employed must be provided with sustaining
programs. This results, in practice, in producing several
programs simultaneously in the key studios of the net
works. Each station on a network pays a stipulated
amount to the network for this sustaining service, and
receives from the network a payment for all sponsored time
the network uses on the station.

From the standpoint of the individual station there
are advantages and disadvantages in this arrangement,
but the former outweigh the latter. The cost of the
sustaining service is much less than the expenditure the
station would have to make in originating its own sustain
ing programs for all unsold periods, and the quality and
variety of the programs is much superior to what most
communities could produce. This builds audiences, and
it is audiences that stations really are selling to broadcast
advertisers.

30 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

The disadvantages are that the network pays the sta
tion less for sponsored time than the station would receive
from a local sponsor; the most desirable time on the
schedule is taken by the network and is therefore not
available to local sponsors; and all time sold to local
sponsors is subject to clearance for chain programs upon
brief notice, making the position of the local broadcaster
insecure. He may be moved at any time, and several
times — and audiences do not follow these moves quickly.
This condition creates a difficult problem for chain stations
that require income from local broadcasters to cover
operating expenses. A recently established chain practice
of setting aside certain periods during the broadcasting
day when individual stations may sell spot broadcasting
on a guaranteed-time basis, may help to ease this situation.

22. Choice of Radio Talent. — Since the chains are
required to provide sustaining programs, they use these
programs for the testing and exhibiting of the talent under
contract to their talent bureaus. All the artists must be
meritorious, of course, for the network's first obligation is
to provide good programs. But beyond merit, there enters
the element of personality — personality conveyed by the
medium of sound alone.

Early in broadcasting it was demonstrated that pleas
ing personalities attract audiences — even though those
audiences cannot see the artist. This led inevitably to the
star system, just as it has in motion pictures, with salaries
running into high figures proportioned to the sponsor's
estimate of the performer's popularity.

Most of these "star" or "name" artists have come to
radio from other fields. From the stage, the movies,
variety houses, from the newspaper world, and other
sources. Relatively few have risen to stardom through
radio alone. But ability to project one's personality arcoss
the footlights or from the motion picture screen does not

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 31

by any means imply a similar ability to do so through the
microphone. Many dismal and expensive disappoint
ments attest this truth. Only broadcasting, and the
response of the radio audience, determine whether the
family in its home is stirred by the artist's personality, or
is not.

Some voices of no great distinction as voices convey
something that interests and pleases the listener and
attracts his attention to the human being, rather than the
voice. Perhaps the hearer writes a letter to the performer,
or to the station from which he broadcasts, expressing his
pleasure. Many people do. When these letters are
received in noteworthy quantities, the performer's ability
to command a radio audience is demonstrated, and his
value to the advertiser is more certain.

23. Star Domination Not Desirable. — Using stars or
"name" artists helps to build a sponsor's audience quickly,
and to enlarge that audience as the artist's popularity
expands. A drawback that every advertiser must guard
against, however, is the danger that the program may be
so dominated by the star, in the listener's mind, that the
advertiser and his product or service are overlooked . When
that happens, and it has happened often, the advertiser is
not using his broadcasting dollars effectively, and it is
time to revise the program to raise his own visibility, or
else to change artists.

As in practically every phase of advertising, here again
is a matter that can only be decided by judgment — there
are no rules. How to employ the proved popularity and
audience building power of a "name" star, without losing
the advertising value, which, after all is the sole reason
for sponsoring a broadcast, is one of the most important
problems confronting the broadcaster. Even men of the
most extensive experience in broadcasting make mistakes
now and then, but their ability to be right most of the

32 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

time is what gives them prominence over others. The
broadcast sponsor will find it to his advantage to employ
the best brains he can find to direct his broadcasting.
For inexperienced persons to decide these problems cor
rectly would be only sheerest luck. And in dealing with
sums as large as those involved in network broadcasting,
there are too many elements of chance already involved
to justify the adding of those that are dependent on luck.

PROGRAM TYPES

24. Audiences and Programs. — Every broadcast has
two audiences. One is the audience that the station or
the network has built through the general high quality of
its programs. The other is the additional audience
attracted to a particular broadcast because of its inherent
interest to them.

Neither of these audiences, which make up the total
of listeners, is static. If the sponsor s program has wide
appeal, and a personality of its own, the number of listeners
increases constantly as word spreads that the program is
a good one to hear. If the program lacks the indefinable
something that makes it enjoyable and memorable, the
reaction of the audience is one of indifference, and its
numbers will decline as other programs broadcast at the
same time from other stations prove more attractive.
Rarely is a network program definitely of no interest in
these days. Too many able people have contributed to its
creation, too much care and money have been devoted to
getting talented artists, for a program to be bad. But in
these days of competition for the ear and loyalty of the
radio audience, mediocrity is a danger signal. This is
not to imply that only the best program of its kind can
be a success. Far from it, even if there could be found
general agreement on what is best. But there is some
thing about radio programs that defines them as unerringly

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 33

as a ball player defines the ability of a rookie when he says
he has "class." Some programs radiate class. Others
do not. Those that have it prove profitable to their
sponsors, often in spectacular results.

25. Showmanship Necessary. — The employment of
able talent being assured, the thing that gives a program
class is showmanship. There is no way to define show
manship acceptably. It includes a keen sense of the
dramatic; a precise feeling of balance and pace; and an
unerring ability not only to do the right thing at the right
time, but also to do it interestingly and entertainingly.
Some persons have a pronounced instinct for showmanship,
and when this is amplified by experience, training and
practice, plus all that cultivation of background to be
derived from intelligent reading and studying the great
emotional and intellectual powers of music, then those
possessing these qualities are fitted to be entrusted with the
creative end of radio broadcasting, the creation of the
program structure, and the direction of its action.

Any type of program broadcast, even the most unpre
tentious interlude of music, can be made to sparkle through
real showmanship. The technique, the labor, the almost
incredible amount of planning and rehearsing that go into
a program may be unknown to the radio audience, but it
is quick to appraise the results; and the basis of this
appraisal is the reaction of the audience to the showman
ship invested in the program.

26. Program Type Classification. — In his book "A
Decade of Radio Advertising" Dr. Herman S. Hettinger
names nineteen different types of programs. These are
(1) Classical music, (2) Semi-classical music, (3) Folk
music and ballads, (4) Variety music, (5) Popular music,
(6) Children's programs, (7) Comedy broadcasts, (8)
Dramatic programs, (9) Children's educational programs,
(10) Adult educational programs, (11) News, market

34 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

and weather reports, (12) Religious broadcasts, (13)
Sports broadcasts, (14) Special features of public interest,
(15) Internationa] broadcasts, (16) Women's feature pro
grams, (17) Variety programs, (18) Farm programs.

A glance at this list reveals that the types fall into two
general classifications, entertainment programs and service
programs. Entertainment programs include music,
drama, comedy, sports, special features and variety pro
grams. Service programs include educational, religious,
news, weather, markets, farm and women's interests.

The purpose of the entertainment program is just what
its name suggests, to bring laughter, happiness, enjoyment,
release from cares and the demands of our physical life.
The purpose of the service program is to render the listener
some needed service, and thus contribute directly to his
mental resources for the enjoyment of life.

Programs of both classifications are popular and fre
quently a single advertiser will use programs of both classes
or two different programs in the same general classification,
simultaneously. For example, one manufacturer broad
cast a weekly hour of symphonic music played by a great
symphony orchestra; at the same time, but on a different
day of the week, he broadcast a popular dance orchestra
with a variety of entertainers; and, concurrently, many of
his branches, operating as independent advertisers, broad
cast sports results.

Another example is that of a manufacturer of a break
fast food who sponsored a popular dance orchestra with a
feature singer, which was straight entertainment; and he
also sponsored a program of songs and stories for small chil
dren. This latter program was unusual in that its purpose
was both entertainment and service. The entertainment
was for the children ; the service was to the parents who
found their children refreshed and relaxed and in a proper
frame of mind to eat their evening meal; for the program
was timed to come immediately before supper.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 35

Almost any type of program, if done well and with a
liberal sprinkling of showmanship, will command a worth
while audience. But there are trends in the popularity of
program types, just as there are in motion pictures. At
one time detective stories, and programs dealing with
crime detection, win particular interest ; at another it is the
foolishness and drolleries of our well-known comedians
that captivates; or it may be the suave, intricate rythms
and melodies of our modern dance orchestras. Sym
phonic music, once considered of too limited interest for
the mass audience a radio sponsor pays to reach, has
grown immensely in popularity, thanks not only to the
welcome broadcasts of such world famous groups as the
Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the
Detroit Symphony; but also to the increased employ
ment of symphonic structure and orchestration in bands
of the deliberately popular type.

27. Musical Development Furthered. — Radio may
well be given much of the credit for America's coming of
age musically. No longer is the average listener respon
sive to melody alone; no longer is he so opinionated in his
viewpoint that if he doesn't care for the tune, "the music
isn't good." Now he feels what is back of all of it, even
though he may not comprehend it. He pulses to new
rythms, he accepts strange harmonies, and he welcomes the
contrast of dissonance. In short, today he views music
with an open and avid mind, so that he is equally capable
of appreciating the delicate loveliness of the Last Rose Of
Summer, and the brooding, mystic, melancholy of Tschai-
kowsky's Fifth Symphony.

This raising of the musical appreciation of the people
has opened greater opportunities to radio, for it not only
makes useful whole libraries of worthwhile music formerly
condemned by the word "classical," but it also furnishes
a real economic stimulus to the creation of good music by

36 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

modern composers of the so-called "popular" kind. Much
of today's popular music would have been as bewildering
and antagonizing to the devotees of Alexander's Ragtime
Band, as were Wagner's amazing musical creations to the
devotees of Bach and Mozart. The evolution of popular
enjoyment of music, in the space of a few years, has
brought modern popular music and classical music very
close together.

Singing has undergone as great an evolution as instru
mental music. The stuffed-shirt affectations of a former
operatic school, and the trifling, sirupy vocal miniatures of
crooning, both have given way to honest voices, singing
with great skill and beauty, but first of all, singing with
convincing sincerity.

Comedy changes. From sorry puns and " wise-crack
ing," it changes to gags, and then to situations. So active
has become the sense of humor of the radio audience that
today the finer shadings of irony meet an appreciative
chuckle, and our comedians may enjoy the same privilege
of deft and delicate ridicule seized in an early generation
by those masters, Gilbert and Sullivan.

Any kind of program may win a large and enthusiastic
following, so long as it does not commit the two cardinal
sins of being pompous and boring, and so long as it does
contain that life-giving element of showmanship.

28. Broadcasting Subject to Constant Change. — It

would be futile to discuss the relative popularity of
present-day programs because types of programs are so
subject to change. There is but one certainty in radio work
— whatever else may be indefinite, whatever else may be
abstract, the fact of constant change is always present.
When that condition ceases to be true, the decline of
popularity of this medium may be expected. For when
radio becomes static, it will have lost touch with its audi
ence; it will have doffed the characteristic which it shares

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 37

so conspicuously with the American people today, the
spirit of freshness, newness, change.

29. Value of Radio Cumulative. — The network broad
caster must look at radio with the long view. The value of
his broadcast advertising is cumulative, and he must plan
his efforts with the realization that if these efforts are
initially successful, and if the modifications and evolution
of his program meet with public approval, his success may
continue for many years. Many of the most popular pro
grams have been broadcast for five, seven, even ten years,
but no one can forecast what will be the conditions ten
years from now. If the original plan of use of radio allows
sufficient flexibility in point of form and variety; if it is
founded on pleasing fundamental human desires and inter
ests ; if it is constructed on the basis of meeting the average
American in his home from week to week in cordial and
unselfish friendship; and last, if these purposes are kept
always fresh, the program may go on and on, and hold that
popular goodwill and interest which alone make it profit
able.

SCHEDULING

30. Continuity of Effort Needed. — Radio has sold
goods in a spectacular way and these results are rightly
credited to it as an advertising medium. However, much
credit for success is due to the methods radio has practically
forced its advertisers to employ. Schedules in printed
advertising are highly flexible. Usually they may be
cancelled upon short notice — and often they are . Contracts
for radio broadcasting also are flexible and may be cancelled
on brief notice — but usually they are not.

The reasons for this different point of view toward the
printed page and radio, are not easy to find. But probably
it is because it takes time to develop an audience, and when
that audience has been acquired cancellation seems to be

536B— 12

38 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

literally throwing away a large investment. At least
broadcast advertisers have shown remarkable stick-to-it-
iveness in their radio advertising.

In all probability the sheer continuity of effort many
broadcasters have shown accounts in large measure for
their successful use of the medium, though needless to say,
a meritorious program helped.

Another factor that has made radio resultful is the fre
quency which it requires. Again, the advertiser has
found it logical to accept the premise that you must not
allow too great an interval between broadcasts or the
audience will forget you. The same condition applies in
printed advertising, but, for some reason or other, its
truth seems more apparent in radio. Consequently,
broadcasters employ a frequency of contact with the public
seldom employed in printed advertising. Usually the
longest interval allowed to elapse between programs is one
week, except in the case of those sponsors who confine their
broadcasting to the sponsoring of the accounts of unusual
events, such as world's championship prize fights, auto
mobile races or foot-ball games.

There is a general axiom in radio that the longer the
program, the longer the permissible interval between pro
grams. Thus, the one-hour program is usually broadcast
with a frequency of once a week. So, also, with half -hour
programs; though here is found a tendency to use a higher
frequency. Two, three and four-times-a-week schedules
of half-hour programs are much more general than they
were a few years ago when this time unit represented a
more impressive occupancy of the broadcasting schedule
than it does today.

Probably the minimum safe frequency for fifteen-
minute programs may be accepted as twice a week. But
even twice is on the danger line. Three times a week is
much better as a minimum. And many broadcasters
employ frequencies of four, five, six and even seven times

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 39

a week. When time units smaller than fifteen minutes
are employed, there is need for greater frequency to reiter
ate the message from day to day, and to establish the
habit of listening. But so far as network broadcasting is
concerned, the minimum time unit obtainable is fifteen
minutes, and smaller units must be confined to spot broad
casting.

31. Determining Desirable Time Unit. — In determin
ing the proper time unit for a contemplated broadcast, the
following points should be considered; (1) The relation
that the length of the time unit bears to frequency with
which it should be used, (2) the type of program, (3) the
contemplated talent, (4) the budget or appropriation. The
smaller the time unit, the greater its relative cost. For
example, four fifteen-minute periods cost considerably
more than one full-hour program.

Practice has indicated that it is not desirable to have
commercial programs that are mostly or entirely talk, run
more than fifteen minutes. That seems to be about the
limit of interest on the part of the listener. A learned
professor of theology at one of our leading universities
once cautioned his class of student preachers that "No
souls are saved after the first fifteen minutes." The same
principle is true in radio.

Many enjoyable musical programs have been given in
fifteen-minute periods, but this length does restrict the
choice of music and the manner of its presentation. If
musical expression is to be given to a representative variety
of moods, more time is desirable. With orchestra, solo
voices, and group voices combined, a half-hour is almost
essential. Probably serious music for small instrumental
groups, where variety is subordinate to the establishing of
a single musical atmosphere, may well be kept in the
fifteen-minute time unit. The same principle applies
here as in the talking periods.

40 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

Variety shows, involving instrumental music, vocal
music by soloists and groups, comedy and dramatic skits,
require not less than half an hour, and the tendency in
recent practice is to give them a full hour. The same
condition appears to be true of programs of symphonic
music, played by seasoned orchestras of national reputa
tion. Here the orchestra may present, through the
medium of music, the same variety of emotional appeal and
intellectual mood as does the variety show.

32. Amateur Hours. — A phenomenon of probably
passing popularity has been the amateur hours. The
reason this is given only a temporary standing is the well-
known tendency of Americans to overdo things and go to
silly extremes. Amateur hours have injected a fresh note
into broadcasting. The sincere and earnest efforts of
amateurs appealed to the sportsmanship of the listener
— he felt like giving them a break, even when their per
formance was rather bad, though in justice it must be said
that many amateurs have done good work.

These amateur hours stimulated conversation, aroused
curiosity and interest, and elicited the sympathetic support
of the audience. Thus they were successful for the adver
tiser. So amateur hours sprung up on the networks and
simultaneously in every city and town. For a while it
seemed as though the entire radio world had gone amateur;
and this overdoing of an excellent idea must eventually
prove its undoing.

The appeal of this form of entertainment resulted from
existing conditions. The first broadcasting was highly
informal. It went on or stopped in jerky fashion, and
nearly anything was acceptable. Then the work of refin
ing started, and with it came greater formality. This
developed to the point where the urge to precision and
perfection in the performance was so great as to communi
cate itself to the audience. Spontaneity was completely

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 4.1

lost and the listener almost felt that he had on his mental
full-dress suit when he turned on his radio set. The intro
duction of comedians smashed this formality pretty
thoroughly, and people delighted in it. And with the com
ing of greater freedom in broadcasting, came the realization
that the audience was not interested so much in technique
as it was in having human beings human. Amateur hours
were a logical outgrowth of this new set of circumstances.

33. Time of Day for Broadcasting. — In scheduling
broadcasting, real thought must be given to a selection of
the right time of day. Ordinarily, service programs should
be given in the daytime. Up to the time of the evening
meal, most persons are mentally and physically active.
But after it, they relax and want to be amused. Service
programs, with the possible exception of news and editorial
comment, bring facts and ideas that call for mental
activity. But after our minds have "knocked off" active
work for the day, we don't feel like putting them back in
harness. Cooking schools, household hints, exercises, all
are subjects for daytime broadcasting. And the daytime
audience is preponderantly feminine.

When it is considered that the woman in the family
is the treasurer of the household, and is estimated to be the
spender of as much as ninety cents out of each dollar of
family income, it is evident that broadcasting to a feminine
audience can be an excellent thing to do. Many adver
tisers who have been more interested in the figures on the
sales sheet than in being sponsors of a famous radio pro
gram featuring some renowned "star," have found the
daytime hours extremely profitable.

There seems little question that the possibilities of
productive daytime broadcasting have not been suffi
ciently explored, and that the next important develop
ment in radio will be an intensification of the use of this
less expensive time. Already the value of the early morn-

42 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

ing hours has come in for increasing recognition. And it
is only a question of time before the skill and ingenuity
of broadcasters will find ways to make daytime service
programs so interesting and noteworthy that they will
command audiences that make daytime prices a bargain.

Children's programs seem to be scheduled, by unani
mous consent, between five and seven in the evening.
That is, of course, the family zero hour, when youngsters
have been called home from play, when their bodies are
tired and they show it with restless querulousness, and
when diversion is most welcome. That niche in the
schedule seems to belong to children, and let us hope that
broadcasters will use it carefully and understandingly,
realizing that while parents may not listen, they are quick
to note the effects on their children; and if the effects are
not what parents desire, a chorus of protest will follow.

Programs sponsoring foods and beverages try to
quicken the appetite of the listener. Hence, it is not good
practice to schedule them soon after the usual meal times.
If they are of major entertainment characteristics, it's
better to wait until nine o'clock in the evening to broad
cast them, and if they are to cover more than one time
zone, it may easily prove desirable to broadcast still later.

After ten-thirty the mind of the listener, tired by the
exigencies of a hard day's work, seeks pure relaxation.
Even following the plot of a dramatic presentation calls
for mental effort that is given reluctantly. Certainly
this is the time for music ; and even the kind of music may
well be considered from the point of view of the tired mind.
It may better be music that calls for a little intellectual
understanding, music that appeals directly to the more
passive of our emotions. The outstanding success of one
orchestra leader in recent years has been attributed to
the fact that he selected programs to appeal to "tired
women." He asked nothing of them but to relax, be
completely at ease, and listen comfortably.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 43

34. Competing Programs. — A factor to be considered
in scheduling is competing programs. Some programs
have such outstanding merit that they practically own
the air. When you find one of these, it's just as well to see
if there is not some other time available that is not quite
so thoroughly dominated by a single program, or by two
noteworthy programs.

On the other hand, some programs have such a pro
nounced character that, even though you know they are
popular, you must also know there are large numbers of
people who would prefer to hear something else. Take
a mystery story period for example. You can be certain
that, if it is well done, it has a large following of those who
love to be thrilled and startled. But there are also large
numbers of persons who don't want to be startled. If your
program is so completely different in theme and execution
that it may seem to stand at an opposite extreme, it may
readily obtain that large unsatisfied audience, even in
direct competition with a program of proved popularity.

One additional factor in scheduling lies in the pro
grams that precede and follow yours. Often a new pro
gram gets off to a quick start by immediately following a
program of proved popularity — merely because circum
stances enable it to inherit much of its audience from its
predecessor, and its own merit holds that audience. Like
wise, if a spectacular program is scheduled to follow yours,
many listeners will tune in early, hear your program and
be pleased by it, and form the habit of listening to all of
your program and then to their original favorite after
wards.

Good scheduling cannot make an inferior program
successful, but it can speed the rise of popularity of a good
program, and put the advertiser's dollars to useful work
more quickly.

44 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

MAIL RESPONSE

35. Obtaining Reponse from Listeners. — The first
radio programs brought letters of appreciation from list
eners and disclosed that people could be sufficiently inter
ested in what they heard to write about it. This fact
furnished the broadcast advertiser with a means of measur
ing the size of his listening audience.

For years there was great curiosity in regard to the
number of listeners, and at times rather extravagant means
where employed to draw mail from the radio audience.
After a period when people were invited to write in if they
had heard the broadcast, came the introduction of mail
stimuli. These took the form of "give-away." If you
wrote in and asked for something you would receive it
free. That procedure was a great success in stimulating
mail, but the commercial advantage to the broadcaster was
questionable.

36. Danger in Free Offers. — There is one great danger
in free offers ; namely, that there is no way to forecast how
many requests there will be, and therefore there is no way
of telling how much they will cost. Many sponsors had
expensive experiences with free offers, particularly when
competition in giving things away sprang up and the offers
became increasingly attractive. The proposition was
uneconomic in principle, and it soon underwent drastic
modification.

Prize contests of one kind or another supplanted free
offers pretty generally, and, as usual, they were overdone.
For a time it seemed as though every program had a prize
contest.

Those who retained the free offer policy changed it
to include a provision that meant in practice, if not in
theory, that the letter writer first purchase the mer
chandise. Box tops, wrappers, bands, cartons — anything

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 45

that gave evidence of a purchase — became a requirement
for the obtaining of a give-away. This proved a sales stim
ulus of merit, and the practice has worked out satisfac
torily enough to warrant the opinion that it will be a per
manent form of radio merchandising.

37. Sampling. — There will always be a place for
straight, unconditional give-aways in the form of samples.
But sampling by mail can be very costly when done on a
large scale, and some modifications of this general idea
are usually followed. Where a new product is being
introduced into a line, for example, the sample may be a
full-sized package, but to obtain it the writer must send in
a carbon, box top, or other item which indicates the sale
of some other article in the advertiser's line.

It is obvious that this change did away with the
original objective of obtaining mail merely for the purpose
of 'estimating the size of the audience. The purpose
changed to a specific sales promotional activity, and that
put it on an economic basis subjected to adequate control.

The audience mail, particularly where samples are
used, may be employed effectively in drives for distribu
tion. A bundle of letters containing the names and
addresses of people interested in a product to the point of
writing for a sample, people who live in the neighborhood
served by a prospective dealer, is a powerful inducement
in the hands of an intelligent salesman.

38. Volume of Audience Mail. — The volume of audi
ence mail is itself a spectacular thing. The pieces of
audience mail received by the three major networks alone,
without consideration of such mail sent to all the remaining
stations in this country, from 1928 to 1934, were as follows:

1928— 815,458 1931—7,305,455

1929—1,704,067 1932—8,327,647

1930—3,205,646 1933—7,482,722

1934—9,752,909

46 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

These figures reveal the enormous forces with which
the radio broadcaster is dealing; the need for utmost care
in the selection of merchandise to be sent to letter writers ;
and also the necessity for seeking either a means of con
trolling the volume or else of establishing qualifications
which produce sales of sufficient proportions at a proper
cost.

Everything from cross-word puzzles to racing turtles
has been offered to radio audiences. The kinds of things,
exclusive of samples, offered to letter-writers by broad
cast advertisers, go in cycles of popularity, just as every
thing else in radio does. At one time cross-word puzzles
were sure-fire mail stimulants. Now nobody considers
them. When an offer is being considered, a careful survey
should be made of all radio offers then current; possible
offers should be carefully studied; and the conditions of
the gift and methods of distribution should be placed in
the hands of men who have the background of years of
experience with them. The possibilities of this subject
are like dynamite, and it should be handled with the utmost
care.

MERCHANDISING THE PROGRAM

39. Merchandising. — The term merchandising, as
applied to a program, covers all the acts or business prac
tises employed to bring the program to the attention of the
public and those who have or should have an interest in its
success. Broadcast advertising contains so many ele
ments of drama and human interest, that it lends itself
ideally to intensive merchandising. The human imagina
tion is practically the only limit that can be placed on the
methods and means of merchandising a program to all those
in whom the advertiser is interested — wholesalers, retail
ers, company salesmen, factory employes, and consumers.

One of the principle functions of advertising is to focus
interest and create conversation. In this respect, radio

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 47

advertising has advantages not enjoyed by the printed
word, because its appeal is so directly to the emotions.
Radio, entering the home as an invited guest, presenting
personalities for whom the family feels a personal affection,
providing entertainment and amusement with a generous
hand, has an intimacy in the family that is all its own.
And this intimacy provides opportunities for merchandis
ing the program never before available.

Increasing recognition of the importance of alert and
aggressive merchandising is evident on the part of all con
cerned with radio. Offhand it might seem paradoxical
to advertise your own advertising. But, whether it is or
not, results prove the value of so doing. It helps to build
audiences more quickly and to a very desirable extent it
directs their thinking. It provides the background infor
mation that people want, and at the same time stimulates
curiosity. It engenders enthusiasm throughout the whole
system of distribution. It increases the factory workers
incentive to good workmanship.

Every network program should be thoroughly mer
chandised before it is launched. The trade should be
completely informed regarding the structure of the pro
gram, the individual stations in the network, potential
audience data, biographies of the personalities on the pro
gram, and details of any offers being made.

40. Store Display Useful. — Window, counter, and
store displays, giving program information and the days
and hours of the broadcasts, should be furnished all out
lets and be exhibited prominently. To all employes of the
sponsor should be given a full description of the effort, and
they should be urged to invite their friends to listen.
Newspaper advertisements on the radio-program pages
should call attention to the program and its features, and
mention should be made of the program in all advertis
ing regardless of character.

48 RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2

The activities outlined above may be considered a
bare minimum for the launching of the program. After it
starts, promotion and publicity should continue ener
getically. Special inserts in packages, special "radio"
wrappings, new display cards — anything that invention
and ingenuity can devise with proper consideration of costs,
should be employed to keep the radio program, its sponsor,
and the product advertised before the public and all dis
tributors. Unless these things are done, the program will
be working under a handicap, and cannot be so quickly
effective as good advertising practice demands.

CONCLUSION

41. In writing of radio broadcasting, the purpose has
been to give a general picture of this great promotional
medium and to relate some of the experience that has
attended its evolution and led up to general practices now
employed.

It is impossible to lay down hard and fast rules. The
methods, the ideas, the activities of 1928 went out of date
in 1928 — and so will those of the present year. Radio,
of all commercial activities, is probably closest to the home
and the family. It is a part of their daily lives, bringing
the best in all the outside w^orld directly into their living
rooms.

And if radio lives with people, it must conform to people
as they and their interests change from day to day. People
do not change according to rule or plan. They go off in
the most surprising directions. And radio must go with
them. When it loses touch, it loses influence.

The most reliable guide to the student of radio is his
own observation and interpretation of what people are
interested in. A good education, good literature, good

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING, PART 2 49

music, intelligent theater going, thoughtful attention to
programs on the air — all these can be very helpful to him.
But in the final anatysis, the people who will listen to his
broadcast are the ones the broadcaster should know. His
instruction must come from his daily contacts with other
human beings.

RADIO BROADCAST ADVERTISING

Serial 3360B (PART 2) Edition 1

Review Questions

NOTE. — These Review Questions are given merely that you may test yourself
On your general knowledge of the points discussed in this lessen. If there is any
question that you are unable to answer, this indicates that you have missed the
point involved and should read the text again. You can readily find the answers
of all of these questions in the text, but dc not send your answers in for correction.

(1) Define spot broadcasting and tell in what way
it differs from network broadcasting.

(2) Tell several advantages of spot broadcasting.

(3) What are electrical transcriptions and why are
they used?

(4) Tell three ways by which spot broadcasting may
be merchandised.

(5) Name the four steps in preparing spot broadcasts.

(6) Name eleven points to consider as guide to
station selection for spot broadcasts.

(7) How large a portion of the United States is it
possible to reach through chain network broad
casting?

(8) What are sustaining programs and why are they
used in radio broadcasting?

(9) What danger is sometimes experienced in using
radio-star talent?

(10) Give the probable reason that advertisers do not
cancel radio broadcasting schedules as they often
do advertising campaigns.

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